25 best WWE Intercontinental Champions of all time

18. The Miz

The Intercontinental Championship was made for somebody like The Miz but his run to the title is actually a little different than most as he kind of did things a little backward. It used to be that the IC title was a stepping stone to the WWE Championship but it’s reversed for The Miz. The former Tough Enough runner-up won the tag titles, the United States Championship and the biggest prize in the game, the WWE title, in the early years of his career before becoming one of the most notable Intercontinental Champions of the 2010s, holding the title for nearly a year over the course of his six runs. He won his first on the 1000th episode of Monday Night RAW by defeating Christian. He lost it to Kofi Kingston after nearly three months in the first-ever title match on Main Event but would regain it just a few months later by defeating Wade Barrett as part of the kickoff show for WrestleMania 29. Barrett would get it back on the ensuing episode of RAW and it would be more than a year before The Miz would win it again.

2014 saw the career renaissance of The Miz as he adopted the movie star character that made him one of the best heels in the business. After Barrett had to vacate the title due to a shoulder injury, one that may have derailed his career as he was in line for a huge push, The Miz capitalized and won the battle royal to crown a new champion, winning the Intercontinental Championship for the third time. He lost it to Dolph Ziggler about a month later but regained it a day later for reign number four, a reign that would last 57 days before he dropped it right back to Dolph. Following the epic Mizdow storyline, The Miz would get a few shots at the belt but kept coming up short until the night after WrestleMania 32 when his real-life wife, Maryse, returned to assist him in winning the title from Zack Ryder, who had won it the night before in an unforgettable ladder match. The Miz would go on to hold the title for more than six months before losing it once again to Dolph Ziggler in the Title vs. Career match at No Mercy. But The Miz would win it for the sixth time just over a month later on the 900th episode of SmackDown. He would take the title into 2017 but lost it to Dean Ambrose on January 3.