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The WWE Intercontinental Championship is an illustrious championship within WWE, which has been won and defended since 1979. Many of the biggest names in the business have held the gold, including 'The Nature Boy' Ric Flair, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Chris Jericho.
The Intercontinental Championship is considered WWE's main midcard championship. It could eventually lead to the superstar rising into the main event scene after a lucrative run with it.
That being said, let's take a look at five WWE superstars you may have forgotten held the prestigious WWE Intercontinental Championship.
#5. Luke Harper held the Intercontinental Championship
Following his run with The Wyatt Family, Luke Harper broke out as a singles competitor. He was lured by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon to join Team Authority at the Survivor Series pay-per-view in 2014. The Authority rewarded Harper for joining them by giving him a shot at the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
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Harper went on to face then-champion Dolph Ziggler and managed to capture the gold with help from co-Team Authority member Seth Rollins. This would mark Harper's first major singles championship win in the WWE. Harper eventually lost the championship 27 days later at the Tables Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view to Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder Match.
Luke Harper spoke with CBS Local Sports about his ambitions following his Intercontinental Championship run:
"Of course, and I had a run — a very small run — with the Intercontinental title that I would love to redo. And me and Rowan have never won the championship, so that’s at the forefront right now. Longterm, literally I wanna be able to support my wife and my two sons, and be happy. A world championship would definitely help that." Luke Harper said (h/t CBS Local Sports)
Of course, Harper went on to eventually win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship with Erik Rowan, before Harper was released from WWE. Following his release Harper joined All Elite Wrestling and became known as Brodie Lee.
Sadly, in December 2020, Harper passed away after reportedly being treated for a lung issue for over two months. It was also reportedly that it was not connected to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Tributes were held on professional wrestling shows all over the world to celebrate the life and career of Jon Huber, the man behind the Luke Harper character.
#4. Ezekiel Jackson held the Intercontinental Championship
Prior to his WWE Intercontinental Championship run, Jackson joined The Corre faction led by Wade Barrett on SmackDown. Jackson became frustrated with The Corre group and refused to celebrate with them following a singles victory over The Big Show. In retaliation, The Corre attacked Jackson backstage and ultimately kicked him out of the group.
At the time, The Corre leader, Wade Barrett, was carrying the Intercontinental Championship. Jackson feuded with Barrett over the title for a few months before eventually beating him fairly and squarely at the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view in 2011.
Jackson told the V2 Wrestling Podcast about how his Intercontinental Championship win came about:
"I only found out on the day. That day was special to me as it was fathers day and I was thinking about my dad [who passed away). It was on the East coast and I saw my mum the night before. My mum saw me perform in the ring for the first night in New Jersey the night before. I was wearing the championship on fathers day and that was really exciting." Ezekiel Jackson said (h/t wrestlingnews.co)
This was Jackson's one and only reign as Intercontinental Champion. He was released from his WWE contract a few years later.
#3. The Mountie held the Intercontinental Championship
The Intercontinental Championship came under arrest from The Mountie in January 1992. The evil and corrupt Canadian Mounted Policeman made sure to make his opponents' lives miserable if they crossed paths with him.
Prior to becoming The Mountie, he was a successful tag team wrestler under the name of Jacques Rougeau, which was also his real name. He won the WWE Tag Team Championships three times with his tag team partner Pierre Oullett, now better known as PCO.
The Mountie defeated Bret Hart in January 1992 to become the Intercontinental Champion. This was his first major singles championship win in WWE. Sadly, Mountie lost his championship just two days later to 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view event.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, The Mountie discussed a time Chris Jericho name dropped him as the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time:
"One time it was out of nowhere," said Rougeau. "I finished my run with Vince [McMahon], I wasn’t on good terms at all with the WWF [WWE], and I just happened to see an interview one time when he was on. I wasn’t even watching wrestling with them anymore, and he did an interview and he said something like, ‘The greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time, The Mountie!’"
#2. Curtis Axel held the Intercontinental Championship
The son of former Intercontinental Champion Mr Perfect added his name to the lucrative list of title holders in 2013. Curtis Axel was immediately given a huge push in May 2013. He started a brief feud with Triple H before scoring count-out victories over then-WWE champion John Cena.
Following this, he went on to compete for the Intercontinental Championship. He won the championship at the Payback pay-per-view event, defeating Wade Barrett and The Miz in a Triple Threat Match. This marked the only time in WWE history that a father-son pair had won the Intercontinental Championship.
In an interview with The Carroll County Times, Axel spoke about winning the Intercontinental Championship:
"Dude, it’s unbelievable. When I got put into that Triple Threat match at Payback, that was the first thing that crossed my mind — that I had an opportunity to win the title that my father made famous in the ’90s, the Intercontinental Championship. And if I were to win it, we’d be the first father-son duo to ever hold that title. So that whole week building up to the pay-per-view, that’s all I could think about. My grandpa was like, if you win this, it’s going to be crazy. So when I did win it, it was pretty emotional. My dad was the first thing I could think of when I grabbed that thing and I held it up." Curtis Axel said. (h/t Wrestling News.net)
Axel's reign lasted 155 days before he lost his title to Big E on the November 18th, 2013 edition of Monday Night Raw. Long live Axelmania!
#1. Dean Douglas held the Intercontinental Championship
"And NEW Intercontinental Champion, Dean Douglas!"
You might better recognize Dean Douglas as wrestling legend Shane Douglas. In 1995, following a run with ECW, Douglas returned to WWE following a short stint in 1991.
In one of the most bizarre reigns ever, Douglas only held the Intercontinental Championship for twenty minutes. That's right, twenty minutes. Douglas was due to face Shawn Michaels at the In Your House 4 pay-per-view, but HBK forfeited the title due to injury. Douglas claimed the win and celebrated his newly won gold.
Douglas was immediately forced to defend his newly won championship against Razor Ramon, who picked up the victory. Shawn Michaels purportedly said that he didn't want to drop the championship to Douglas, so he used the injury as an excuse to avoid facing him.
Douglas spoke about the Shawn Michaels incident with the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling Podcast:
"I would in a heartbeat tell you that Shawn Michaels is a better in ring performer than me and I would also tell you in that next breath that I was a much better promo then Shawn was and in the business and especially in those days that was the package. So if Shane Douglas was able to have great matches with Sabu, Taz, Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Sandman, Terry Funk, Bam Bam Bigelow and Pitbull #2 but Shawn couldn’t have a great match with me then maybe you have to ask the question of why?" Shane Douglas said (h/t Wrestling INC.)
Nevertheless, Douglas will go down as one of the rarest Intercontinental Champions in the history of WWE.
