| UWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date introduced | September 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | United Wrestling Federation | ||||||||||||||||||
| Brand | All Brands | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) |
| ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
The United Wrestling Federation (UWF) Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship in both United Wrestling Federation and World Wrestling Entertainment. It is the original secondary title of WWE. Currently, it is the secondary championship on all three brand.
Intercontinental Championship title reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which wrestlers are involved in scripted rivalries that are played out on UWF programming. These narratives create feuds between various wrestlers, which cast them as villains and heroes.
History[]
The WWE Intercontinental Championship was originally known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. 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 Heavyweight Championship and defending the title in a tournament to be unified with a South American Heavyweight Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The title later became known as the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased World Championship Wrestling. 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, defeated the Intercontinental Champion, Test, causing the United States Championship to become inactive while becoming the new Intercontinental Champion.
After the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship was subsequently referred to as the WWE Intercontinental Championship. It was then unified with the European Championship in a ladder match on July 22, and the Hardcore Championship on August 26. The Intercontinental Champion, Rob Van Dam, defeated the European Champion, Jeff Hardy, and the Hardcore Champion, Tommy Dreamer. As a result, Rob Van Dam was named the last European and Hardcore Champion. Then at No Mercy 2002, it was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship. The World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H, defeated the Intercontinental Champion, Kane, causing the Intercontinental Championship to become inactive. However, in January 2003, the title was reactivated by WWE President, Chae McMahon, and was recommissioned to be a secondary championship to the RAW brand. Shortly after, the WCW United States Championship was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship by the SmackDown brand, making the title its equal counterpart. During the 2008 WWE Draft on June 30, 2008, reigning champion (WWE Superstar) was drafted to SmackDown, making the Intercontinental Championship exclusive to that brand.
Reigns[]
The inaugural champion was Pat Patterson, by defending the title in a tournament to be unified with a "South American Heavyweight Championship" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September 1979. Nelson Mandrell holds the most reigns with fifty. The Honky Tonk Man is the longest reigning champion at 454 days while Nelson Mandrell, Jeff Hardy, Ric Flair, Hardcore Holly, John Cena, Matt Hardy, Rey Misterio, Edge, John Bradshaw Layfield, and Christian Cage with the shortest reigning champion at 1 day. As of June 2009, (Insert champion here) is the champion in his first reign having defeated (Insert UWF Superstar here) at (Enter event name here), in a Last Man Standing match.
| Current United Wrestling Federation championships and accomplishments | |
|---|---|
| Brand Championships | UWF: World • Women's • Tag Team Betrayal: European • Hardcore Deception: United States • Television Legacy: Intercontinental • X-Division |
| Developmental Championships | TNA: World • X-Division • Tag Team |
| Other Accomplishments | Gauntlet for the Gold • King of the Mountain • Money in the Bank • Ultimate X |
| Championship lists | List of current champions in United Wrestling Federation World {reigns) • World Tag Team (reigns) • Women's (reigns) European (reign) • Hardcore (reigns) United States (reigns) • Television (reigns) Intercontinental (reigns) • X-Division (reigns) World (reigns) • X-Division (reigns) • Tag Team (reigns) |