Greatest IC Champ Of The Decade

[BK Styles]

Just been looking through some of the threads on here and read the one about The Miz's US Title run, and someone on there compared Randy Orton's IC title reign to Miz's US title reign, and it got me thinking;

Who has been the best Intercontinental Champion in the 00's, and why???

Having asked this question I find it a difficult one to answer; for one, theres been so many.

Honourable Mention:

Randy Orton
In 2003, Orton defeated RVD for the belt at Armageddon, and didn't lose the belt till Vengeance 04 against Edge. This 7 month title reign was the longest in 7 years, and IMO helped get Randy over as a legit competitor. Randy had the legend killer moniker at this point, and the confident swagger he had just sold him as a champion.

My Pick for being the best IC champ of the last decade is...

Chris Jericho
Lets face it, I don't really need to elaborate on this one. Mr Consistency in the ring, Jericho has held this belt more than anyone else, and has had some stunning matches for it (in particular against Mysterio and against Benoit, especially Royal Rumble 2001 ladder match). He is bound for the HOF some day, and you cannot help think of him when you think of the Intercontinental Title, and vice versa.

So, my friends, what do you think?

 

[minionofdarkness]

Chris Jericho, and who could think anyone else can have this honor. He has held the title more than anyone, has defended the title in some of the most memorable matches, or has won them in some of the most memorable matches, such as the Ladder Match against Chris Benoit. He can keep either Raw or Smackdown going as the top man, as he has proven over and over. HOF bound and the respect of his peers and the younger wrestlers.

 

[jmt225]

Randy Orton for me, easily.

His 6 month or so reign with the belt was easily the best run anyone's had with that title since the early nineties. First of all, he won the belt in fantastic match at Armageddon against Rob Van Dam, and then went on to have one of the best feuds of the last decade against Mick Foley, which climaxed in what is now one of my favorite matches of all time: Orton vs. Cactus Jack at Backlash 2004 for the IC Title. Past that Orton would have a nice little feud with Shelton Benjamin that resulted in some good matches, until finally losing the IC Championship in yet another SUPERB match, which was against Edge at Vengeance 2004.

He won the belt in a great match, defendes the belt in nothing but great matches and feuds (which were a huge focal point of Raw, which is the last time you could say that about a mid-card title on that show), and lost the belt in a great match. Orton's run with the IC Title is EASILY the greatest of the last decade, which is why's the greatest IC Champion of the last decade.

 

[Ric Stratus]

Good question....real good question. It would be a lot easier to name a few of the best IC champions EVER because the last ten years has seen the championship's value decrease sadly. But, since we are speaking in terms of 2000-2010, I'm going to have to go with Chris Jericho & Jeff Hardy (sorry I couldn't pick..they both had numerous reigns and some were lengthy and stuck out to me). They both brought merit to the belt and made people actually care about it. It made the upper-mid card very interesting and very much more interesting then the IC title picture is today. Back in the day it was like the IC Championship had a division....and those were the days....When Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit (fuck this douche bag though, for the record), Kurt Angle, Edge, and Jeff Hardy were all vying for the belt. That's the problem with the E today.....People should be put in divisions. WWE Championship contender divisions, US title division....so on and so fourth. Just my opinion.

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

Chris Jericho
Lets face it, I don't really need to elaborate on this one. Mr Consistency in the ring, Jericho has held this belt more than anyone else, and has had some stunning matches for it (in particular against Mysterio and against Benoit, especially Royal Rumble 2001 ladder match). He is bound for the HOF some day, and you cannot help think of him when you think of the Intercontinental Title, and vice versa.

I agree that Jericho' in-ring talent makes him a great wrestler, I just don't believe he has had that one lengthy reign that really cemented him as champion like Orton. Yes, he had a great feud with Mysterio over the belt in '09 but the catalyst of that feud was Rey's mask, not the belt. So for that reason, I'm gonna argue the case for Jeff Hardy. This has really confused me as I am not a huge Hardy fan but at least when he ha the belt, it was not so he could be a transitional champ. He regularly defended it and had some good feuds with Umaga and Johnny Nitro/Morrison. Yes, Jericho is the better wrestler but Hardy never had that belt has an accessory like Jericho did in some of his short reigns. Hardy was a true midcarder at the time and he benefited from the push, unlike Jericho's last couple reigns when he was floating between the divisions.

 

[wushady]

I would have to go with Jericho as well. He's had more reigns than anyone some were less than stellar some were great. Overall he has brought prestige to that title. With all the great matches he has had either defending it or challenging for it.

 

[RT]

I'm going to give my vote to Jericho as well. The man has won just about every title that you can win and his reigns are some of the longest to date. He has made this title as prestiges as it gets. Jericho has held this title more than any superstar and his title defenses have turned out to be some of the greatest matches in WWE history.

To me its easy to say that Jericho is the best IC champion of this decade. In my opinion he is the best wrestler in the business thats only because I've been watching him ever since i started following Professional Wresting in 2005. Jericho is a solid hall of fame candidate and his number of championships prove it.

 

[Stevo]

I'm gonna throw in a wildcard and go with Jeff Hardy, because everyone is gonna say Y2J, Randy Orton etc...

Now Jeff's huge win of Triple H was something no one saw coming, HHH and Austin ran the show, and for Jeff to grab the win even with the help of Matt was huge. Back than I was maybe 4 years old and it put a big grin on my face.

His more recent stuff has been good too, his matches with John Morrison and Umaga (r.i.p.) were awesome.

 

[Jslim65]

Hands down it's gotta be Jericho. Some of his title reigns may have not that long but as we all know no one has held the title more time than him. A record 9 times which will most likely never be broken. He's got that rare talent 2 a great heel or face. A talent only few truly have.

 

[Decarow]

I'm going to say Shelton Benjamin. He was a strong champion. When I think of an IC champ, I think of Benjamin. Sure, he didn't have the best mic skills in the world (that's why his momma was brought in) but he had amazing ring skills and who can forget his Gold Rush Tournament match with HBK? Of course this was before ECW returned and he took on the lame Gold Standard gimmick.

 

[Disturbed]

Without a doubt its crisjericho he has held it the most in the 2000s i mean he has held it 8 times the most in history so by far he is the best but Randyorton would come close at number 2

 

[Lou134K]

for me it has to be Chris Jericho because hes held it the longest and has had the best matches for it and out of all the IC champs hes the best on the microphone

 

[Syborgg]

I'm gonna go with Santino!! Ha ha just kidding, but if he would have broken the "Honka Tonka Man's" record that would have done it. But The greatest this decade? That's really a tough one. If you count purely on number of reigns, then Jericho wins hands down. But then there's Christian, Edge, Benoit, RVD etc. who have all won it multiple times and have all had memorable feuds and matches while defending the title. When I look at the history, the thing that saddens me most is the depreciation of the IC title. It used to be a big deal to be IC Champion. I know a few won't agree with this, but my choice is Edge. Why? Because I find him entertaining. He's a great World Champ, and he was a great IC Champ in my opinion. Number of reigns isn't always the gauge for me it's about the matches and feuds and how I was entertained.

 

[Stevo1990]

I would say Shelton Benjamin, if we are going to go by the states. He held it three times for a total of 354 days(his first reign was the longest of the decade). He beat Chris Jericho for the IC the first time around and beat other notables such as Christian, RVD, and Flair.

 

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

I do like your pics but I'm going to go with Rob Van Dam. He picked up the title during the InVasion storyline. He defeated Storm and Show to become #1 Contender and subsequently defeated Regal at WM X8 and from then on the ball rolled for him. While Orton had a longer reign and Jericho held it more times, RVD's matches and feuds were better imo, in terms of quality and relevancy. He defended it against Guerrero in a great ladder match, had an awesome feud for the title and helped put Lesnar more over after their amazing King of the Ring match, was in another great ladder match against Jeff Hardy where he unified it with the European Title, and had pretty good feuds with Benoit, Benjamin, and Orton.

Also after RVD, I'd say Y2J 2nd and Orton 3rd, and I know I'll probably catch shit for this but I'd put Santino 4th. His first win was no doubt the least expected and while the belt may have lost some prestige when he held it, His reigns were the most entertaining, promo and skit wise, imo. Who can forget the Honk-O-Meter, I really enjoyed his reigns.

 

[Krobra]

Chris Jericho (9)
Chris Benoit (4)
Kurt Angle
Rikishi
Val Venis
Chyna
Eddie Guerrero (2)
Billy Gunn
Triple H (3)
Jeff Hardy (4)
Kane (2)
Albert
Lance Storm
Edge (4)
Christian (2)
Test
William Regal (2)
RVD (6)
Booker T
Randy Orton
Shelton Benjamin (3)
Carlito
Ric Flair
Johnny Nitro (John Morrison) (3)
Umaga (2)
Santino Marella (2)
Kofi Kingston (2)
CM Punk
JBL
Rey Mysterio (2)
Drew McIntyre

Current Intercontinental Champion: Kofi Kingston

Coming into 2000, Chris Jericho was holding onto his first ever Intercontinental Title with Chyna. He won it again to be the undisputed Intercontinental Champion on Jan 23rd when he defeated Chyna and Harcore Holly and started his second reign. Since then, we had 66 Intercontinental Title reigns and 31 different Champions.

Out of all these guys, Chris Jericho definitely comes out on top. He has 9 Intercontinental Title reigns. Not only does he have the most in the past decade, but the most ever. The closest that comes to Jericho in terms of reigns is Rob Van Dam with 6.

Chris Jericho is definitely the Intercontinental Champion of not only this decade, but of all time.

First Reign: Dec. 12, 1999 - Jan. 3, 2000. Defeated Chyna.

Second Reign: Jan. 23, 2000 - Feb. 27, 2000. Defeated Chyna and Hardcore Holly.

Third Reign: May 2, 2000 - May 8, 2000. Defeated Chris Benoit.

Fourth Reign: Jan. 21, 2001 - April 5, 2001. Defeated Chris Benoit.

Fifth Reign: Sept. 16, 2002 - Sept. 30, 2002. Defeated Rob Van Dam.

Sixth Reign: Oct. 27, 2003 - Dec. 14, 2003. Defeated Rob Van Dam.

Seventh Reign: Sept. 12, 2004 - Oct. 19, 2004. Defeated Edge.

Eight Reign: Mar. 10, 2008 - June 29, 2008. Defeated Jeff Hardy.

Nineth Reign: June 7, 2009 - June 28, 2009. Defeated Rey Mysterio.


Jericho isn't known for the longest reigns, usually lasting 1-3 months tops. Shortest lasted 6 days, losing it back to Chris Benoit in 2000.

 

[BK Styles]

Wow, some great picks here. Thank you all for contributing!

A bit suprised by Benjamin's love here, though I do hold a certain amount of affection for his IC Title run. I prefer his runs to Jericho's, because from when he beat HHH on Raw he became my favorite wrestler. But for me thats it; I may prefer him because he has a place in my heart but I recognise Jericho is better, in my opinion.

Santino deserves a mention (nothing more) because of that 'Milan Miracle' shock factor. Biggest upset in WWE history as far as I'm concerned.

Orton's mentions on here are 100% justified. Jericho and he are two different ways of being champions. Jericho is the one who will keep winning the belt, nomatter how many times he loses it, and Orton is the one who will hold and run with it. I gave the nod to Jericho (and trust me, it took a hell of a while) purely because when I think of the IC Title, Jericho's name comes up first.

Jeff Hardy is an interesting one, because, like Benjamin, I loved him as IC Champ. But again, its more a case of I prefer him with the belt than I do Jericho. I'm a massive Hardy fan, always have been, always probably will be. But I'm never going to say he's the best in the world, nor the best IC champ.

Edge, for my money, simply wouldn't be where he is today without his singles run from 2001 when he won the IC title from Lance Storm. This catapulted him into the limelight as a legit singles star (his streetfight on Smackdown with Eddie Guererro is one of my favorite SD matches ever), and his title win over Orton in 2004 blew my mind. The problem with Edge for me was that I never really remembered his title reigns. I remember most of Jericho's, Ortons was brilliant, but Edge's just didn't stick in the memory for me. Nothing against it; he is one of the IC title's MVP's of the last ten years, easily.

RVD was great as a champion. Hell, while holding the IC Title he retired the Hardcore belt and the European belt. Gotta be honest, I discarded him immediatly after thinking about him, but after thinking more about it, he is a legit contender. But again, For me Jericho will go down as the greatest IC champ in the last decade, if not all time.

And also, my pick of Jericho isn't just for the number of reigns. Thats like saying HHH is the best world champion. Sorry, don't buy it. Jericho always put on classics for that belt, from beating Benoit in a ladder match at Royal Rumble 2001 (MinionofDarkness, I thank you for mentioning it) to his match at WM X-7 against Regal, and more recently his match against Mysterio. He always put on awesome matches for that title (and without it 2bh) and for that reason, he is the greatest in my eyes.

Keep the picks comin' guys!!