25 best WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time

23. Cody Rhodes

Remember how I mentioned that the Intercontinental Championship sometimes didn’t seem relevant? Well, the early part of the 2010s played into that a little bit as the title bounced around between guys like Drew McIntyre, Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler and Ezekiel Jackson. And while I certainly don’t want to knock any of those guys as they’re all phenomenal performers, the prestige was gone a little bit but that all changed when Cody Rhodes set his sights on the title.

Cody had been a big part of the mid-card for quite some time, mainly assisting Randy Orton in the Legacy stable along with Ted Dibiase, Jr. He did win the Tag Team Championship with McIntyre in 2010 but really hadn’t had that breakout moment on his own. He participated in a tournament for the vacant IC title soon after being drafted to SmackDown in the 2010 draft and made it to the final four but lost his semifinal match with Christian. After a big feud with Rey Mysterio, it was time for Cody to finally hit the spotlight, and on an episode of SmackDown in August 2011, the second-generation superstar defeated Ezekiel Jackson to win the Intercontinental Championship, which was the first singles title of his career. And it was Rhodes who debuted the old design with the white strap that we know today and held the title for an impressive 234 days, the longest run of the decade thus far, beating guys like Dibiase, Sheamus, John Morrison and Booker T in the process.

After pinning him in the Elimination Chamber, he then started a feud with Big Show and highlighted his embarrassing moments from WrestleMania, which led to a match for the title between the two at WrestleMania XXVIII, a match that Big Show would win to end Cody’s first run. Rhodes would reclaim the title a few weeks later at Extreme Rules in a Tables Match but would only hold it that time around for 22 days, losing it to Christian on an episode of Monday Night RAW.