WWE Intercontinental Championship
| WWE Intercontinental Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) |
Cody Rhodes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | August 9, 2011 (aired August 12, 2011) |
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| Promotion | World Wrestling Entertainment | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | SmackDown | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date created | September 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) |
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The World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship in World Wrestling Entertainment. It is the first secondary title of WWE. Currently, it is the secondary championship on the SmackDown brand.
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[change] History
The WWE Intercontinental Championship was first known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Intercontinental Championship, until the WWE/WWF 2002 Lawsuit. Following the title's introduction in 1979, Pat Patterson became the inaugural champion on September 15. The title's creation came as a result of Patterson defeating Ted DiBiase to win the WWF North American Championship and defending the title in a fictional tournament held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to be unified with a South American Championship.[1]
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation bought World Championship Wrestling.[2] Soon after, "The Invasion" took place in which the WCW/ECW Alliance was ultimately dismantled. At Survivor Series 2001, the title was unified with the WCW United States Championship. The United States Champion, Edge, won against the Intercontinental Champion, Test, and became the new Intercontinental Champion while the United States Championship became inactive.[3]
After the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship became known as the WWE Intercontinental Championship. It was then unified with the European Championship in a ladder match on July 22, and later the Hardcore Championship on August 26. The Intercontinental Champion, Rob Van Dam, won against the European Champion, Jeff Hardy, and the Hardcore Champion, Tommy Dreamer.[4][5] As a result, Rob Van Dam was named the last European and Hardcore Champion.[6][7] Then at No Mercy 2002, it was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship. The World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H, won against the Intercontinental Champion, Kane, and continued to be the World Heavyweight Champion while the Intercontinental Championship became inactive.[8] In May 2003, after fan protests of the retirement of the Intercontinental Title, the title was reactivated by RAW Co-General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and was recommissioned to be the secondary championship for the RAW brand. Shortly after, the WCW United States Championship was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship by the SmackDown! brand, making the Intercontinental Championship its equal counterpart for the RAW brand. During the 2009 WWE Draft the two title swapped brands, making the Intercontinental Championship SmackDown property and the US Title Raw property.
[change] Current Holder
The current champion is Cody Rhodes, who is in his first reign. He beat Ezekiel Jackson for the title on August 9, 2011, which was a taping for the August 12 edition of SmackDown.
[change] Other pages
[change] References
- ↑ "Pat Patterson's first reign". http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/intercontinental/322358.
- ↑ "WWE Entertainment, Inc. Acquires WCW from Turner Broadcasting". WWE Corporate. 2001-03-23. http://corporate.wwe.com/news/2001/2001_03_23.jsp. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ↑ "Survivor Series 2001 results". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/survivorseries/history/2001/results/. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ↑ "WWE Raw - June 22, 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/020722.html. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ↑ "WWE Raw - August 26, 2002 results". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/raw/020826.html. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ↑ "WWE European Championship history". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/euro/. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ↑ "WWE Hardcore Championship history". WWE.com. http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/hard/. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ↑ "No Mercy 2002 results". WWE. http://www.wwe.com/shows/nomercy/history/2002/results/. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
[change] Other websites
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