There has been a lot of renewed interest in the WWE Intercontinental title as of late. Ever since GUNTHER won the title nearly a year ago, he has worked tirelessly to restore the title’s prestige and undo over a decade of poor presentation.
With GUNTHER’s reign having surpassed 310 days, and following a widely-hailed successful title defense against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 39, a growing number of fans have put the Austrian’s name in contention for greatest IC Champion of all time.
Chris Jericho, however, thinks that honor belongs to someone else
Chris Jericho names best WWE Intercontinental Champion ever…and it isn’t himself
On April 21st, WrestlingNews.co tweeted out a question to its readers asking who they considered the greatest IC Champion of all time.
Aside from GUNTHER and Jericho, some of the names considered for that distinction were The Honky Tonk Man, The Ultimate Warrior, Pedro Morales, Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, Bret Hart, and Razor Ramon.
But according to Jericho, none of those listed names deserve the top spot. According to him, the only wrestler worthy of that honor is Shawn Michaels.
— Chris Jericho (@IAmJericho) April 22, 2023
Shawn Michaels held the Intercontinental Championship three times between 1993 and 1995. His longest reign lasted 202 days and was ended by his former partner Marty Jannetty.
Both Michaels’ second and third reigns ended in controversy. The second one ended in September 1993 when Michaels was suspended for testing positive for steroids. As for his third reign, that one ended when Michaels lost the title via forfeit after he was attacked outside a nightclub in Syracuse, NY.
As for Chris Jericho, he holds the record for most total reigns with nine, including one co-reign alongside Chyna. Most of his reigns were relatively short, however, and his combined number of days as champion across all reigns is 318 days.
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