25 best WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time

11. Randy Orton

When the Intercontinental Championship was revived in May of 2003, it bounced around a little bit, changing hands five times after Christian won the battle royal to become the champion after Stone Cold brought the title back. The longest reign during that time was 50 days. And then third-generation superstar Randy Orton got himself in the mix. Orton joined up with Ric Flair, Triple H and Batista to form Evolution and it was their goal to prove that they were the best of the past in Flair, the best of the present in Triple H and the best of the future in Batista and Orton. It was at this time that he began using The Legend Killer gimmick and also the RKO as his finisher and he soon found himself in high-profile matches on a constant basis, one of which would come against Rob Van Dam at Armageddon in late 2003 for the Intercontinental Championship. While Triple H would once again become the World Heavyweight Champion and Ric Flair and Batista won the tag titles, Orton would complete Evolution’s dominance by defeating RVD to begin the longest IC title reign in seven years.

Mick Foley, who had been the special guest referee for Orton’s match with Van Dam, entered into a program with Orton and challenged him to an Intercontinental Championship match at Backlash, which the youngster won in an extremely bloody affair. Orton would go on to have a few more big title defenses over the next few months before finally losing it to Edge at Vengeance. Randy Orton’s lone reign as Intercontinental Champion lasted 210 days.

Orton may have only been a one-time champ but at a time when the company needed someone to bring some legitimacy back to the prestigious title, he took the ball and ran with it. He went to on to win a world title or two over the next decade.