25 best WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time

8. Shawn Michaels

Initially known as a tag team specialist as a member of The Rockers with Marty Jannetty, Shawn Michaels was destined for a greatness after breaking away from Jannetty on the epic Barber Shop segment in which he superkicked his partner and threw him through a window. And singles greatness didn’t take long. Less than a year after the incident, Michaels was thrust into the Intercontinental Championship picture and lost to Bret Hart in the first-ever ladder match but would go on to defeat The British Bulldog a few months later on Saturday Night’s Main Event. His first reign lasted 202 days, at which point he lost the title to Jannetty but got it back a few weeks later with his second reign going 113 days until he had to vacate the title after being suspended.

Soon after his return, he entered into a program with Razor Ramon, who had won the title after Michaels vacated it, with HBK claiming to be the real Intercontinental Champion since he never officially lost it the title. This led to their famous ladder match at WrestleMania X, which was won by Razor. It took more than a year for Michaels to get back into the title scene and he won his third IC title by defeating Jeff Jarrett at In Your House 2 but once again, he had to vacate the strap due to injuries sustained from a real-life encounter outside of a Syracuse nightclub and that would be the last time he would ever hold it. It was during this time, however, that he was able to get revenge on Razor Ramon by defeating him in another ladder match at SummerSlam. Michaels returned a bit too quickly and took some more time off to heal and once he returned to a full-time schedule, he won the Royal Rumble and went on to defeat Bret Hart for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XII. His three reigns lasted a total of 406 days.