Who Is The Greatest Ever Intercontinental Champion? Part 1

The Intercontinental (IC) Championship is a title steeped in history and prestige. It is almost a "proving" belt, awarded to those deemed capable of holding a World Title one day. Many present and future Hall Of Fame members have held the Intercontinental Title, including Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Mr Perfect and The Rock (the list goes on...).

But who is the greatest ever Intercontinental Champion? Let's begin with listing every wrestler, all 70 of them, who have ever held the title (in chronological order) along with the cumulative number of days they held the title for:

Pat Patterson - 233
Ken Patera - 231
Pedro Morales - 619
Don Muraco - 541
Tito Santana - 443
Greg Valentine - 285
Randy Savage - 414
Ricky Steamboat - 65
Honky Tonk Man - 454
The Ultimate Warrior - 432
Rick Rude - 148
Mr Perfect - 406
The Texas Tornado - 84
Bret Hart - 290
The Mountie - 2
Roddy Piper - 77
British Bulldog - 59
Shawn Michaels - 406
Marty Jannetty - 20
Razor Ramon - 437
Diesel - 138
Jeff Jarrett - 298
Dean Douglas - 0
Goldust - 168
Ahmed Johnson - 50
Marc Mero - 28
Triple H - 196
The Rock - 339
Owen Hart - 132
Steve Austin - 65
Ken Shamrock - 125
Val Venis - 83
Road Dogg Jesse James - 14
The Godfather - 43
Edge - 171
D'Lo Brown - 26
Chyna - 64
Chris Jericho - 318
Kurt Angle - 35
Chris Benoit - 142
Rikishi - 14
Eddie Guerrero - 114
Billy Gunn - 19
Jeff Hardy - 329
Kane - 57
Albert - 27
Lance Storm - 27
Christian - 192
Test - 13
William Regal - 126
Rob Van Dam - 211
Booker T - 34
Randy Orton - 210
Shelton Benjamin - 354
Carlito - 90
Ric Flair - 155
John Morrison - 209
Umaga - 118
Santino Marella - 162
Kofi Kingston - 266
CM Punk - 49
John Bradshaw Layfield - 27
Rey Mysterio - 128
Drew McIntrye - 161
Dolph Ziggler - 160
Wade Barrett - 132 and counting
Ezekiel Jackson - 51
Cody Rhodes - 257
Big Show - 28
The Miz - 85

Next, the average length that each champion has held the title for is calculated (169.84 days - as of 13th February 2012)) and eliminate any wrestler falling into the "lower than average" bracket, which leaves 26 wrestlers in contention but also eliminates some notable champions including:

Ric Flair - The Nature Boy's IC title reign came in 2005, during the twilight of his active career. The Ric Flair Intercontinental Championship reign lasted 155 days and was ended by Shelton Benjamin on an episode of Raw. However, before his title loss Flair had made numerous title defences including two PPV wins as Intercontinental champion - against Edge and Triple H. Ric Flair was the oldest Intercontinent Champion aged 56.

Chris Benoit - The only wrestler eliminated at this stage of proceedings that held the title more than a couple of times, in fact four times, is Chris Benoit. The former World Heavyweight Champion dethroned a dominant Kurt Angle at Wrestlemania 16 for the IC Title, and had a classic Intercontinental rivalry with Chris Jericho in which his took the title away from Y2J twice, as well as competing with him at Royal Rumble 2001 in a ladder match for the IC Title.

Owen Hart & Steve Austin - The legendary "Black Hart" and "The Rattlesnake" had an explosive Intercontinental rivalry that lead to a distinct turning point in Steve Austin's career at Summerslam 1996 where Owen broke his neck performing a reverse sit down piledriver. As explosive as the rivalry was, it was too brief for either to be considered the greatest Intercontinental Champion.

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper - The only singles title reign that piper had began at Royal Rumble 1992 and lasted 77 days where it was ended by Bret Hart in a definite contender for match of the night at Wrestlemania 8.

Chyna - The first and only ever woman to win the Intercontinental Title did so not only once, but twice. Defeating possible candidates Jeff Jarrett and Chris Jericho. Ultimately, it was The Ninth Wonder Of The World's inability to keep hold of the title that lead to her early elimination.

The British Bulldog - Davey Boy Smith defeated his brother-in-law Bret Hart in front of 80,000 of his countrymen in what is ofter described as the greatest Summerslam match ever at Summerslam 1992. Shawn Michaels ended the Bulldogs one and only IC Title run.

CM Punk - The "Best In The World" defeated William Regal for the Intercontinental Title and held it for 49 days, before being dethroned by John Bradshaw Layfield.

Kurt Angle - One of only 3 men to be "Eurocontinental" Champions (simultaneously holding the IC and European Titles), the Kurt Angle Intercontinental Title reign culminated at Wrestlemania 16, where he unsuccessfully defended it against Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho.

And so the remaining 26 contenders for "greatest Intercontinental Champion" are:

Pedro Morales
Don Muraco
The Honky Tonk Man
Tito Santana
Razor Ramon
The Ultimate Warrior
Randy Savage
Shawn Michaels
Mr Perfect
Shelton Benjamin
The Rock
Jeff Hardy
Chris Jericho
Jeff Jarrett
Bret Hart
Greg Valentine
Kofi Kingston
Cody Rhodes
Pat Patterson
Ken Patera
Rob Van Dam
Randy Orton
John Morrisson
Triple H
Christian
Edge

In Part 2...

...The arguments for the remaining 26 wrestlers are presented, and the final 5 contenders are identified.