| WWE Intercontinental Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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 The current WWE Intercontinental Championship belt with default side plates (2024–present) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | WWE | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | Raw | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | September 1, 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion | John Cena | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | November 10, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | |||||||||||||||||||
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TheWWE Intercontinental Championship is a men'sprofessional wrestlingchampionship created and promoted by theAmericanpromotionWWE, defended on theRawbrand division. It is one of two secondary championships for WWE's main roster, along with theWWE United States Championship onSmackDown. The current champion isJohn Cena, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeatingDominik Mysterio on the November 10, 2025, episode ofRaw.
The championship was established by the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on September 1, 1979, as a result of theWWF North American Heavyweight Championship beingunified with an apocryphal South American Heavyweight Championship,[1] withPat Patterson as the inaugural champion. It is the third-oldest championship currently active in WWE, behind theWWE Championship (1963) and United States Championship (1975), but the second-longest tenured championship, as WWE has only owned the U.S. championship since 2001. Although generally contested in themidcard at WWE shows, it has been defended in the main event of pay-per-views includingWrestleMania VI,SummerSlam in 1992, thethird andeighthIn Your House shows,Backlash in 2001, and atExtreme Rules in 2018. It has been called a "stepping stone" to a WWE world championship.[2][3]
In November 2001, the then-WCW United States Championship was unified into the Intercontinental Championship. In 2002, after the introduction of the firstbrand split, it became exclusive to Raw and the WWF wasrenamed WWE. Later that year, theEuropean andHardcore championships were unified into the Intercontinental Championship, which itself was unified into theWorld Heavyweight Championship (original version). The next year, it was reactivated for Raw, followed by the United States Championship's reactivation as a counterpart championship on SmackDown. The Intercontinental Championship has switched between brands over the years, usually as a result of theWWE Draft; the2023 draft moved the title back to Raw.
The term "intercontinental" in the title originally referred toNorth andSouth America.[4] In 1985, the championship belt design changed, the centerplate now centered on theAtlantic Ocean, in a map including westernAfrica andEurope. On April 7, 1989, the championship was first defended outside of North America, byRick Rude againstthe Ultimate Warrior inTurin, Italy.[5] On March 30, 1991,Mr. Perfect made the firstAsian defense againstThe Texas Tornado at a WWF co-promotion withSuper World of Sports inTokyo, Japan.[6] It first came to Africa on April 6, 1997, when championRocky Maivia pinnedSavio Vega inDurban, South Africa.[7]Shelton Benjamin made the firstAustralian defense on April 7, 2005, pinningGene Snitsky inBrisbane.[8]
WWF North American Heavyweight ChampionPat Patterson became the inaugural champion on September 1, 1979. It was said he hadunified his title with the South American Heavyweight Championship, in a tournament inRio de Janeiro,[4] although both the tournament and South American Championship were entirely fictional.[9][10]
On April 1, 1990, atWrestleMania VI, Intercontinental Championthe Ultimate Warrior defeatedWWF ChampionHulk Hogan to win the world title; so the Intercontinental Championship wasvacated for the first time soon after.[11]Mr. Perfect then won a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion.[12][13]
On October 17, 1999,Chyna became the only woman to hold the Intercontinental Championship by defeatingJeff Jarrett atNo Mercy.[14] Following theWorld Wrestling Federation's (WWF) purchase ofWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) in March 2001,[15] the title wasunified with theWCW United States Championship atSurvivor Series, causing the United States Championship to become inactive. Then-United States ChampionEdge defeated then-Intercontinental ChampionTest.[16]
In 2002, after the firstbrand split had begun and the WWF was renamed WWE, Raw general managerEric Bischoff began unifying his brand's singles championships. On July 22, 2002, the Intercontinental Championship wasunified with theEuropean Championship in aladder match, in which then-Intercontinental ChampionRob Van Dam defeated then-European ChampionJeff Hardy. On August 19, 2002, Bischoff made a six-minute gauntlet match for theHardcore Championship, with the winner facing Van Dam in a second unification match the next week onRaw.Tommy Dreamer successfully retained his title in that match, and lost to Van Dam in a hardcore match the next week.[17][18] As a result of the victories over Hardy and Dreamer, Van Dam is regarded as the last European and Hardcore champion in WWE history; these were his first and fourth reigns with those respective titles.[19][20][21] On September 30, 2002, Bischoff scheduled a match to unify the Intercontinental Championship with the recently created Raw-exclusiveWorld Heavyweight Championship. The unification match took place atNo Mercy the following month and saw then-World Heavyweight ChampionTriple H defeat then-Intercontinental ChampionKane, making him the Raw brand's sole male singles champion.[22]
Over Bischoff's objections, Raw co-general managerStone Cold Steve Austin reactivated the Intercontinental Championship on the May 5, 2003 episode ofRaw and declared any former champion on the Raw roster eligible to enter a battle royal atJudgment Day for the title.Christian won the battle royal to win the championship and restore a secondary singles title for Raw wrestlers to compete for. Eventually, WWE did the same thing for SmackDown and created a separate set of titles for that brand; for its secondary title, SmackDown reactivated theUnited States Championship that had been unified with the Intercontinental Championship in 2001, placing the WWE name on it while claiming the lineage of the old WCW title of the same name (much as they did with theCruiserweight Championship when that became WWE exclusive).
On May 31, 2015, the championship was contested in anElimination Chamber match for the first time.[23]
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In July 2016, WWE reintroduced the brand split. During the2016 draft, then-Intercontinental Champion The Miz was drafted to SmackDown. Just days later, he successfully defended the title against Raw drafteeDarren Young atBattleground, making the title exclusive to SmackDown. During the following year'sSuperstar Shake-up, Intercontinental ChampionDean Ambrose was moved to the Raw brand, making the title exclusive to Raw. Two years later during the2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Intercontinental ChampionFinn Bálor moved to SmackDown, making the title exclusive back to SmackDown. Later that year, theNXT brand, WWE'sdevelopmental territory, became WWE's third major brand when it was moved to theUSA Network in September, thus making theNXT North American Championship a third secondary title in WWE.[24] However, this recognition was reversed when NXT reverted to being WWE's developmental brand in September 2021.[25] In late 2024, the WWE introduced thewomen's counterpart to the Intercontinental Championship.
The 1985 version of the Intercontinental Championship belt, designed byReggie Parks, consisted of a gold center plate featuring a blue globe, with the red WWF block logo on top which was later changed to gold. On the top ribbon of the belt it read "INTERCONTINENTAL" with the three stars on each side, while the bottom inscription read "HEAVYWEIGHT WRESTLING CHAMPION". The championship belt also had four identical side plates. Like the main WWF Championship, the strap could be changed to a custom color such as yellow worn byThe Ultimate Warrior and blue worn byShawn Michaels.[26]
In 1997, after Stone Cold Steve Austin won the title, the Intercontinental Championship was redesigned after he threw the previous belt into a river. The belt originally had a purple strap and the WWF block logo, but was later redesigned again with a black strap and the WWF scratch logo. The center plate was oval shaped and featured an oval shaped world map with the company's logo in the center. On the top it had six faux diamonds and the inscription initially read "World Wrestling Federation" while the bottom had two texts reading "INTERCONTINENTAL" on the ribbon and "CHAMPION" on the bottom. Each of the four side plates represented the continents: the first plate contained the WWF logo and the textAntarctica, the second plate readEurope andAfrica, while the third plate represented theAmericas (North America andSouth America) and the fourth plate readAsia andAustralia. The belt's design was modified after the company's name change in 2002 from WWF to WWE, replacing the text with "World Wrestling Entertainment" accordingly.[27]
On October 2, 2011, atHell in a Cell,Cody Rhodes reintroduced a modified version of Parks' 1985–1997 championship belt design with the white strap, with the modern WWE "scratch logo" and other embellishments.[28] On August 18, 2014, the Intercontinental Championship belt, along with all other existing championship belts in WWE at the time, received a minor update, replacing the longstanding scratch logo with WWE's current logo that was originally used for theWWE Network that launched earlier that year in February.[29]
On the November 22, 2019, episode ofSmackDown,Sami Zayn presented a new belt design to championShinsuke Nakamura. The redesigned Intercontinental Championship returned to being on a black leather strap with an entirely new center plate with an irregular shape. The center portion of the center plate features an oval-shape. The top half of the oval says "Intercontinental" and the bottom half says "Champion"; the word "Heavyweight" sits in a banner on the inner side of the oval above the word "Champion". At the center of the oval is a diamond shape, representing awrestling ring viewed from above, with the WWE logo over a globe. On the sides of the center, plate is two halves of the globe. The left side features the continents of North and South America as well as Africa and Europe, while the globe on the left shows Asia and Australia; both globes show a portion of Antarctica. The rest of the center plate is filled with ornamentation. Like all of WWE's other championships, the belt features two side plates with a removable center section that can be customized with the champion's logos; the default side plates consist of the WWE logo over a globe.[30] On the September 30, 2024, episode ofRaw, uponJey Uso winning the championship fromBron Breakker the week prior, the championship received a minor update by adding blue on the globes on the centerplate.
Following thebrand split on March 25, 2002, all titles in WWE became exclusive to either the Raw brand or SmackDown brand. The brand split was discontinued on August 29, 2011, and revived on July 19, 2016. The following is a list of dates indicating the transitions of the Intercontinental Championship between the Raw and SmackDown brands.
| Date of transition | Brand | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| March 25, 2002 | Raw | WWF Intercontinental ChampionRob Van Dam was drafted toRaw during the2002 WWF Draft. In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to WWE. TheEuropean Championship was unified into the Intercontinental Championship on July 22. |
| July 30, 2002 | SmackDown! | Intercontinental ChampionChris Benoit was moved toSmackDown!. |
| August 25, 2002 | Raw | The Intercontinental Championship was returned toRaw afterRob Van Dam defeatedChris Benoit to win back the title. TheHardcore Championship was unified into the Intercontinental Championship on August 26. |
| October 20, 2002 | N/A | AtNo Mercy,Triple H defeatedKane to unify the Intercontinental Championship into theWorld Heavyweight Championship. The Intercontinental Championship was subsequently deactivated. |
| May 5, 2003 | Raw | Raw co-general managerStone Cold Steve Austin reactivated the Intercontinental Championship. TheUnited States Championship was reactivated forSmackDown! in July 2003 as the Intercontinental Championship's counterpart. |
| April 13, 2009 | SmackDown | Intercontinental ChampionRey Mysterio was drafted toSmackDown during the2009 WWE Draft. |
| August 29, 2011 | N/A | End of first brand split. The Intercontinental Champion could appear on bothRaw andSmackDown. |
| July 19, 2016 | SmackDown | Reintroduction of the brand split. Intercontinental ChampionThe Miz was drafted toSmackDown during the2016 WWE Draft. |
| April 10, 2017 | Raw | Intercontinental ChampionDean Ambrose was moved toRaw during the2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up. |
| April 16, 2019 | SmackDown | Intercontinental ChampionFinn Bálor was moved toSmackDown during the2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up. |
| May 8, 2023 | Raw | Intercontinental ChampionGunther was drafted toRaw during the2023 WWE Draft. |
The WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship Tournament was a tournament to decide a new WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion after previous championUltimate Warrior was required to vacate the title after he defeatedHulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship atWrestleMania VI.[31][32]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Tito Santana | CO | |||||||||||||
| Akeem | ||||||||||||||
| Tito Santana | ||||||||||||||
| BYE | ||||||||||||||
| Brutus Beefcake | DCO | |||||||||||||
| Dino Bravo | ||||||||||||||
| Tito Santana | ||||||||||||||
| Mr. Perfect | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Mr. Perfect | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Jimmy Snuka | ||||||||||||||
| Mr. Perfect | ||||||||||||||
| BYE | ||||||||||||||
| Roddy Piper | DDQ | |||||||||||||
| Rick Martel | ||||||||||||||
The WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament was a tournament to decide a new WWF Intercontinental Champion after previous championAhmed Johnson forfeited the title. He suffered (kayfabe) injuries to both kidneys when he was attacked by the debutingFaarooq after winning an 11-man battle royal.[32][33]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Owen Hart | CO | |||||||||||||
| The British Bulldog | 8/19 | |||||||||||||
| Owen Hart | 9/16 | |||||||||||||
| Marc Mero | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Marc Mero | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Stone Cold Steve Austin | 8/19 | |||||||||||||
| Marc Mero | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Faarooq | 9/23 | |||||||||||||
| Sycho Sid | 8/19 | |||||||||||||
| Hunter Hearst Helmsley | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Sycho Sid | 9/16 | |||||||||||||
| Faarooq | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Faarooq | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Savio Vega | 8/19 | |||||||||||||
The tournament to determine the new WWF Intercontinental Champion after former championStone Cold Steve Austin forfeited the belt after his neck injury. The tournament was held between September 8 and October 5, 1997, with the finals occurring on October 5 at the pay-per-view. The tournament brackets were:
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Brian Pillman | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Dude Love | ||||||||||||||
| Brian Pillman | ||||||||||||||
| Owen Hart | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Owen Hart | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Goldust | ||||||||||||||
| Owen Hart | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Faarooq | ||||||||||||||
| Faarooq1 | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | ||||||||||||||
| Faarooq | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Ahmed Johnson | ||||||||||||||
| Ahmed Johnson | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Rocky Maivia | ||||||||||||||
Notes:
1Ken Shamrock initially won the match. But he was injured so Faarooq advanced.
The WWF Intercontinental Championship Tournament was a tournament to decide a new WWF Intercontinental Champion after previous championTriple H vacated the title due to injury.[32][34]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final | ||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | Sub | |||||||||||||
| Steve Blackman | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | Sub | |||||||||||||
| Val Venis | ||||||||||||||
| Val Venis | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Marc Mero | ||||||||||||||
| Ken Shamrock | Sub | |||||||||||||
| X-Pac | ||||||||||||||
| X-Pac | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Jeff Jarrett | ||||||||||||||
| X-Pac | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Mankind | ||||||||||||||
| Mankind | Sub | |||||||||||||
| Mark Henry | ||||||||||||||
A tournament was announced to crown a new #1 contender forWilliam Regal's WWE Intercontinental Championship.CM Punk won the tournament by defeatingRey Mysterio in the tournament final at Armageddon.[35]
| Round 1 | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Kofi Kingston | DQ | |||||||||||||
| Kane | ||||||||||||||
| Kofi Kingston | ||||||||||||||
| Rey Mysterio | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Rey Mysterio | Pin | |||||||||||||
| The Miz | ||||||||||||||
| Rey Mysterio | ||||||||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | |||||||||||||
| John Morrison | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Finlay | ||||||||||||||
| John Morrison | ||||||||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | |||||||||||||
| CM Punk | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Snitsky | ||||||||||||||
The WWE Intercontinental Championship Tournament was a tournament to crown a new Intercontinental Champion. On May 7, 2010, after failed attempts of getting Intercontinental ChampionDrew McIntyre to stop attackingMatt Hardy, Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long fired McIntyre and vacated the title. The following week,Kofi Kingston won a tournament to become the new champion, but Mr. McMahon reverted Long's decision. Due to the decision by Mr. McMahon, the vacancy of the title and Kingston's championship win are not recognized as WWE continued to recognize McIntyre as champion during that period.[36] AtOver the Limit, Kingston defeated McIntyre to win his second official Intercontinental Championship.
| Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
| 1 | Kofi Kingston | Pin | |||||||
| 4 | Dolph Ziggler | 11:15 | |||||||
| Kofi Kingston | Pin | ||||||||
| Christian | 8:43 | ||||||||
| 3 | Christian | Pin | |||||||
| 2 | Cody Rhodes | 12:15 | |||||||
On May 12, 2020, the Intercontinental Championship was declared vacant after championSami Zayn elected to refrain from competing during theCOVID-19 pandemic. A tournament to crown a new champion was then set to begin on the May 15 episode ofSmackDown.[37]
| First round SmackDown, May 15–22 | Semifinals SmackDown, May 29 | Final SmackDown, June 8 (aired June 12) | ||||||||||||
| Daniel Bryan | Sub | |||||||||||||
| Drew Gulak | 9:40 | |||||||||||||
| Daniel Bryan | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Sheamus† | 13:11 | |||||||||||||
| Jeff Hardy | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Sheamus | 11:17 | |||||||||||||
| Daniel Bryan | 37:58 | |||||||||||||
| AJ Styles | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Elias | Pin | |||||||||||||
| King Corbin | 13:03 | |||||||||||||
| Bye† | ||||||||||||||
| AJ Styles | ||||||||||||||
| AJ Styles | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Shinsuke Nakamura | 9:48 | |||||||||||||
† Neither Jeff Hardy nor Elias were able to compete in the semifinals, as Elias was (kayfabe) injured in a car crash and Hardy was accused of causing it and arrested. AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan were given the option of having abye in the tournament. Styles opted for the bye to automatically advance to the final on June 12 while Bryan opted to have a new opponent; Sheamus subsequently won abattle royal to qualify for the vacant spot in the semifinals against Bryan that night.
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The inaugural champion wasPat Patterson who, as theWWF North American Heavyweight Champion in September 1979 was also declared "South American Heavyweight Champion" after allegedly winning a tournament inRio de Janeiro. Pattersonunified the two championships into the Intercontinental Championship. Since then, there have been 189 reigns among 93 different champions.Chris Jericho has the most reigns with nine. At 666 days,Gunther's reign is the longest in the title's history, both as a singular reign and for most cumulative days as champion. Prior to his reign,Pedro Morales had the longest combined reign at 619 days over two reigns, and held this record for over 41 years.Triple H's fifth reign is the shortest as the title would be temporarily retired at the time immediately upon Triple H winning and unifying the title with theoriginal World Heavyweight Championship.Chyna is the only woman to win the title. The youngest champion wasJeff Hardy, who won the championship for the first time at the age of 23, while the oldest champion wasRic Flair, who won the championship at the age of 56. There have been 10 vacancies throughout the title's history.[38] Only five men have held the title for a continuous reign of one year (365 days) or more: Pedro Morales,Don Muraco,Randy Savage,The Honky Tonk Man, and Gunther.
John Cena is the current champion in his first reign. He won the title by defeatingDominik Mysterio on the November 10, 2025, episode ofRaw inBoston, Massachusetts.[39]
The Intercontinental Championship's early years have been praised. Samuel Kendall ofComic Book Resources lauded the championship during this era, stating: "It was a foregone conclusion that the Intercontinental Champion was the workhorse of the company and the next in line for the World Heavyweight Championship".[40][41] Steve Cook of411Mania wrote that "nearly anybody that was a big deal in WWE held the championship at some point."[42] Steve Austin said he considered the Intercontinental Championship to be as important as the world titles and he remains in possession of the physical belt that represented the championship during his reign because of its historical importance.[43]
Throughout the 2010s, WWE was criticized for its booking of the Intercontinental Champions, with champions either not defending during long periods of time or losing in many of their non-title matches. Chris Jericho said that WWE promoterVince McMahon told him that "nobody fucking cares about the Intercontinental Championship" after he asked to be placed in a match for the title atWrestleMania 29 in 2013.[44] Also in 2013, Darren Gutteridge ofPro Wrestling Dot Net wrote that the "title has proven analbatross for the past decade, with almost all title holders doomed to tread water, usually only beating people decisively when the title is on the line".[45] The albatross metaphor was also used to describe the title in 2014 by James Caldwell ofPro Wrestling Torch,[46] whileDave Meltzer of theWrestling Observer said that year that "the [Intercontinental] title isn't booked to mean much."[47] Various commentators in 2014 and 2015, including fromThe Baltimore Sun,Rolling Stone,PWInsider, andPro Wrestling Dot Net have pointed out that the Intercontinental Champion often loses non-title matches,[48][49][50][51] while Mike Tedesco ofWrestleview questioned how Intercontinental Champions losing too much is supposed to bring prestige to the title.[52]
Some observers argued thatThe Miz managed to elevate the championship during his multiple runs with the title;The Sportster columnist Wesly Avendano claimed that Miz "made the Intercontinental Championship "Must See" again" and "helped stabilize the IC Title during a time when WWE really needed him to", while Lucean fromCageside Seats noted that Miz "has been, at least for me, making the Intercontinental (IC) title appear really meaningful" and that "the number of people I see wanting to see someone to beat the Miz and take the title to get that heat makes becoming the IC champion seem meaningful".[53][54]
The championship continued to receive criticism into the early 2020s. Kendall panned the recent reigns as forgettable and wrote that the title had "turned into a prop to be lugged around, rather than a title that should bestow prestige."[41] Cook wrote that it had been "treated as something of an afterthought" for the previous two decades.[42] The championship was only defended on two pay-per-views in 2021 and was not defended at any within the first quarter of 2022, includingWrestleMania 38; its absence on the premiere event was widely criticized by fans.[55]
