25 best WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time

14. Don Muraco

After a decade touring various territories, including the AWA in Minneapolis and the NWA in San Francisco, Don Muraco finally made his way to WWE in 1981 and made an impact almost immediately. He entered a long program with Intercontinental Champion Pedro Morales and ended his 194-day reign at a house show in Philadelphia on November 23 to become just the fourth Intercontinental Champion in history. The feud would continue throughout the year and the two would once again battle for the title, this time in a Texas Death Match, with Morales coming out ahead.

Muraco would split his time in 1982 between various promotions but would return to WWE in the fall and would get another shot at Morales in early 1983. Morales had held onto the title during Muraco’s entire absence but the Hawaiian native would end the 425-day reign, at that time the longest in history, with a win in New York City to become just the second two-time Intercontinental Champion. Muraco would go on to hold the title for more than a year, 385 days to be exact, and defended it against a number of WWE superstars, most notably Tony Atlas, Rocky Johnson and of course, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, whom Muraco defeated in a steel cage match at Madison Square Garden on October 17, 1983. However, the night will always be most remembered for Snuka bringing Muraco back into the ring and hitting the Superfly Splash from the top of the cage in one of the most iconic moments in WWE history. But Muraco continued to hold onto the belt and wouldn’t lose until February 11, 1984 when he was defeated by Tito Santana. Muraco, who would later use the nickname “The Rock”, held the Intercontinental Championship for a total of 541 days, which to this day is still the second-largest total in history.

And speaking of The Rock.