25 best WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time

2. Chris Jericho

Even if the reigns only add up to 319 days, cumulatively less than guys like Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett, you’re not going to not put nine-time Intercontinental Champion Chris Jericho near the top of this list. You just can’t do it. And yes, I know all of you Honky Tonk Man fans are screaming at me right now but let’s not pretend that his title matches were better than Jericho’s. But instead of doing what I’ve been doing and describing each of the title wins in detail, let’s save us all a lot of time and bullet point this thing, shall we?

• Reign #1: Just four months after his debut in WWE, Jericho defeated Chyna to win his first title. This reign would officially last 22 days as the two would be considered co-champs for about three weeks on TV but officially, the title was considered vacant for those 20 days.
• Reign #2: Jericho officially wins his second Intercontinental Championship after beating Chyna and Hardcore Holly in a three-way dance at the Royal Rumble. He would lose it five weeks later to Kurt Angle at No Way Out after the Olympic gold medalist hit him with the title after Chyna got involved.
• Reign #3: Nearly three months after losing the title, Jericho regained it by defeating Chris Benoit on SmackDown. This run lasted just five days and he dropped the title back to Benoit on RAW.
• Reign #4: After the title was passed around a bit, it ended back around the waist of Benoit and Jericho beat him in a Ladder Match at the Royal Rumble in early 2001. He lost it 74 days later to Triple H. Y2J got back at him by putting him out of action for nearly a year. Obviously kidding. That was a horrible accident.
• Reign #5: After becoming the first-ever Undisputed Champion (it still shocks me that they let him have that…in a good way though), Jericho won his fifth IC title by beating Rob Van Dam on RAW. This reign lasted just two weeks after he lost to Kane.
• Reign #6: Over a year later, on October 27, 2003, Jericho won his sixth IC title by defeating Rob Van Dam but RVD got an immediate rematch and took the title back that very same night.
• Reign #7: Almost another year later, reign number seven came along when Jericho defeated Christian in a great Ladder Match after Edge had to vacate the title due to injury. He lost it to Shelton Benjamin at Taboo Tuesday 37 days later and wouldn’t win it again for three and a half years.
• Reign #8: Chris Jericho’s longest reign as Intercontinental Champion was his eighth, holding the title for 111 days after beating Kofi Kingston on RAW. Kofi would regain the title at Night of Champions later in the summer of 2008.
• Reign #9: Jericho’s final run came in 2009 following his problems with Mickey Rourke and the WWE legends. After a great program with Ricky Steamboat, Y2J got into it with Rey Mysterio and defeated him in a No Holds Barred match at Extreme Rules. He lost it three weeks later at The Bash in a rematch.

Nine times … you’ve got Principal Rooney from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on the brain now, don’t you? But seriously, nine times Jericho held the Intercontinental Championship. That’s pretty spectacular.