25 best WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time

9. The Honky Tonk Man

Let the controversy begin. To this day, The Honky Tonk Man still holds the record for the longest Intercontinental Championship reign in history at 454 days, so why is only ninth on this list? Well, I’m just calling it like I see it and that’s about all I’ve got.

The funny thing is that he really wasn’t even supposed to be the champion. After Ricky Steamboat beat Randy Savage at WrestleMania III, “The Dragon” almost immediately asked for time off to be with his wife, who was pregnant with their first child (the little guy he walked down with at WrestleMania IV) and that did not go over well. Creative made the choice to take the strap off of Steamboat and depending on who you believe, the story goes that the initial choice was “The Natural” Butch Reed. But he’s said to have no-showed the match, something he has repeatedly refuted, and The Honky Tonk Man was the back-up plan thanks to some encouragement to Vince McMahon from Hulk Hogan. He went on to beat Steamboat on an episode of Superstars that aired on June 2, 1987.

And even when Honky got the title, he was only supposed to have a transitional reign but injuries to others kept it going and it turned into the longest reign in history. Most of the matches during the reign weren’t all that great but I will give credit where credit is due as the way they kept the belt on him was great. The Honky Tonk Man was a fantastic heel (having Jimmy Hart with him didn’t hurt) and he would constantly get counted out or disqualified simply to hang onto the title. He had a great feud with Randy Savage that actually helped get Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage together and then went on to a program with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, who beat him at WrestleMania IV but did not win the title. Finally, at SummerSlam ’88, The Ultimate Warrior, who came down as a mystery opponent, ended the historic reign by dismantling the champion in 31 seconds.