WORST I.C CHAMPS | Failed Intercontinental Champions

there was a time when the Intercontinental Championship was the most prized belt out there to great in ring performers after all it was the belt held by the real Workhorse wrestlers people like Macho Man Randy Savage Bret Hart and Mr Perfect but over time the IC strap would lose a lot of its luster and part of the reason for this was because of some truly terrible Reigns but what are the worst runs with the Intercontinental title belt of all time well that's exactly what we are going to be looking at today and we better to start than with the time Road dog held the title in 1999 yes in between the period where then Rising Stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock were fighting over the secondary strap in 1997 and highlevel performers like Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho are trying to wrestle it away from one another in 2000 there was 1999 the first point the IC title really started to lose what made it special and that was because this was the period that not only did it start bouncing around from person to person a lot more but it started falling into the hands of people it would never have before in fact one of the people that this statement applies to the most is Road dog as well he was very over during the Attitude Era and was always great on the mic his skills were never as an in-ring performer and prior to this that had always been a Hallmark of what made a great Intercontinental Champion the ability to go in the ring so needless to say then once he won the belt from Val Venus it marked a quick drop in the quality of the work you'd see associated with it as Brian James just wasn't that kind of performer no he was more suited to Quick crash TV style bouts which had none of the technical prowess of anything involving a Ricky the Dragon Steamboat or a Ravishing Rick Rude hell it wasn't even as if it had the star power of an Ultimate Warrior or a Rowdy Ry Piper because while again Road dog was very over during this time period he remained a mid-card act regardless really if he was winning any belts back then it should have been a hardcore title or even a European title something lower down on the pecking order without the same kind of lineage and the same could sadly be said for his former partner as it happens too because while he was a much better wrestler when it came time for the Bell to ring Billy guns run with the IC strap never amounted to much either why was this well let's be honest at least part of the reason the current day daddy ass failed to get over as a singles champion in 2000 was the rock after all once he won the King of the Ring in June that year it looked like the world was Guns oyster but during the leadup to his bout with the great one at SummerSlam a couple of months later any steam he'd been building up was destroyed with one single promo so when it came time to coordinate him his Intercontinental Champion in November by having him beat Eddie Guerrero few people really cared anymore and this meant it was hard for anyone to get invested in any of his matches especially as they weren't on the level people had been accustomed to seeing throughout that year that's right in 2000 alone we'd already seen Jericho angle and Guerrero hold the strap so even if he was a step up from the road dog when put amongst town tent like this the one Billy Gun just couldn't cut it now as we've seen time and time again throughout his career he can be great in a tag team or Trio's situation but whenever you ask the former New Age Outlaw to go at solo it just never manages to connect as it should and that's a shame because had things been a little different he could have been a very worthy Intercontinental Champion hel certainly looked like a big star at the time and he had the Charisma required for such a spot we'd go as far as to say that if this one came a few years later when the belt was any even more Dire Straits then Billy's run might have been looked back on more fondly than it is but when it sandwiched in between the likes of Latino Heat and Triple H there's just no way you can consider it on the same level but Billy Gun wasn't the only wrestler of the Attitude Era who underwhelmed when it came to holding on to the once prized gold at the turn of the Millennium and trying to keep relevant in the process and that's because in June of the following year things would reach another level of bad when Albert became Champion now this didn't have to be a terrible idea as on the face of things after all Albert was something of a rising star in WWF at the time certainly a performer who management appeared to see potential in as a single star and with the Intercontinental Belt still holding some of its cache back then there was every reason to assume giving it to him would help Elevate him to that next level so why did such an idea fail then well have you ever heard of the phrase the man makes the title not the title makes the man yeah the secondary prize could have elevated the future Lord tensi had he been up to the task but pretty soon after he beat Kane to take it home on July 26th of that year it became clear that he wasn't the guy for the job no like with Road dog what Albert specialized in was having pretty basic matches which had little heat and to make matters worse he never even had the mic skills the road dog had in order to make up for such in ring deficiencies so because of this whenever he defended his title during his completely forgettable Reign it would put the audience to sleep as no one could have cared less about seeing him on their screen and sure it didn't help that this was around the time that he had the stink of xfactor on him one of the worst factions of all time with hands down the worst entrance music ever recorded but even if you take X Factor out of the equation the fact remains Albert just wasn't someone who should have been winning the Intercontinental Championship at any point of his career as all this served to do was bring the belt down rather than rise him up that said WWF were all in on him at the time so they tried this anyway even if it was always destined to be a failure and it wasn't as if they learned their lesson afterwards either because later on that same year they'd make the exact same mistake when they had test win the goal now test is an interesting case because again on the surface of things he had all the elements required to be a star in WWF he was big had a good look could talk on the mic to some degree and while he wasn't Shawn Michaels in the ring he could have a decent match considering the time period he was wrestling in sadly though for one reason or another things never quite clicked with him as a single star no matter how hard the company tried to turn him into one why was this well there's a number of potential causes maybe Triple H taking his place as the on-screen husband of Stephany McMahon in 1999 killed his momentum or maybe it was a case of his spot being better filled by better wrestlers like some of the ones we've mentioned already whatever the Reason by the time we got to the end of the invasion angle in late 2001 it was clear that Andrew Martin was becoming lost in the shuffle so that's why it was baffling in many ways that WWF chose this as the moment to finally coronate him as IC champ yes it's another rain which was certainly hurt on account of when it happened hell had it happened in 1999 instead then maybe test would have fared better by 2001 though he was destined to fail especially as the man he'd taken it from Edge was so much more over than he was and was basically a better version of him in many ways seriously but both of them were big long-haired blonde Canadians who built at least part of their Appeal on being athletic figures that the ladies could enjoy watching the big difference though was that even back then Adam Copeland oozed star power and had Charisma to burn in a way the former Union member never did and maybe that's why after a run which only lasted 13 days test would drop the belt right back to the man he'd won it from again allowing WWF to go on almost as if no title change had ever happened at all but as for insignificant as this rain turned out to be even it has nothing on the run our next Champion had because his lasted less than an hour who are we talking about here why Dean Douglas of course yes you could argue that in the lineage of the Intercontinental title a belt which had existed for 16 years by the time Douglas won it this was the first truly bad rign and a sign that not all was going to be well for what it represented in the years to come sure this isn't necessarily the former ECW World Champion's fault as he didn't even get a chance to do anything with it but nevertheless he was the man who had the rain and so it's him who's always going to be associated with it not the booking team could it have been better if he had been given an opportunity to have an actual run sure Douglas was always capable both in the ring and on the mic so there's no reason he couldn't have had some feuds against the likes of Shawn Michaels or Jeff Jarrett but alas that was not to be and because of this he'll always go down in history as the man who held the belt for a shorter period of time than takes to watch an episode of The Simpsons of course that all begs the question then why give it to him at all why do Dean like that if the company never had any intention of it going anywhere well the answer to this can be found in two words The Click yes like with so many other people in mid90s WWF Dean Douglas became a victim of the politicking of Shawn Michaels and his friends that's right HBK was supposed to drop the belt to his opponent at iny your house 4 great white North but after getting beaten up by a bunch of Marines means a few days prior he wasn't cleared to compete so this meant Douglas would simply be awarded the belt once the time came for the match to begin and sure while that wasn't a great start to his run he could have made the best of it but this never happened as immediately thereafter he'd be told he was defending it against Shawn's friend Razor Ramone with Ramon proceeding to absolutely job the Pittsburgh native out in 11 minutes but it isn't the only shortlived grain which has earned itself a spot on our video today no our next one qualifies in such a Category 2 as it happens that's right it's time to talk about the mount now again the mounty becoming Intercontinental Champion back in 1992 didn't have to be a terrible idea as he was a pretty decent wrestler and good enough character for the time hell jacqu rjo The Man Behind the gimmick had long since proven he had what it took to be a player in WWF during his lengthy run as part of the fabulous rjo alongside his brother Raymond so why was this title run such a flop then well like with Dean Douglas he didn't get a chance to do anything with it no the only reason he won the belt at all in fact was so he could act as a transitional champion after Bret Hart fell ill with the flu yes this one can all be blamed on an unwell Hitman as it was in the lead up to that Year's Royal Rumble that Brett caught a bug and was not going to be able to get himself well enough in time to step into the ring for his planned pay-per-view bout against Rowdy Rody Piper and that was why realizing he had to Pivot then Vince McMahon had the Excellence of EX tion drop it in a quick squash at a house show on January 17th with the man who beat him for it here being none other than the Bounty but while this marked a high point for jacqu rjo as a singles performer it wasn't destined to be a lengthy rain as just two days later at the Royal Rumble he'd be the one to face off against Piper and as had always been planned the kayfabe Scotsman would win this one giving him his first singles gold in WWF ever and after that Brett came back and put on a Clinic with Rody at WrestleMania 8 in what was at the time one of the best pure wrestling bouts ever seen inside a Fed ring and while they were doing this the mounty was being completely forgotten about with him instead being part of a throwaway eight-man tag which also featured the big boss man viril Sergeant Slaughter Hacksaw Jim Dugen the nasty boys and the Repo Man that's right well it was done out of necessity the unintentional after effect of having jacqu rjo have such an uncharacteristically short run with the IC strap considering the time period he was in was that he looked like an absolute geek such a geek that fans would find it hard to take him seriously as a real threat again afterwards but that's not the worst example of someone looking like a complete jobber despite holding what was supposed to be one of the top titles in the entire company as years later the exact same thing would happen to an even greater degree when Curtis Axel won it ah Curtis Axel no matter what he did in WWE he always came out looking bad by the end of things it didn't matter if it was his time as part of a comedy act alongside Bo Dallas or his Infamous Genesis of McGill cuty promo everything he touched had a habit of not working out as intended and that's why everyone should have seen it coming then when in 2013 he was brought back as the newest Paul Heyman guy and from there proceeded to absolutely kill the idea that anyone associated with the former ECW owner was destined for stardom yes unlike heon's runs with the likes of Brock Lesnar and CM Punk this one didn't get over with fans why did it fail well for all WWE seemed intent on pushing Axel here he was never really treated like a star hell even when he beat Triple H during his first match back it was purely on a technicality as the game had kayfabe collapsed outside the ring and gotten himself counted out so when it came time to actually coronate the son of Mr Perfect then he didn't really feel like a big enough deal to be someone who could hold the gold even gold that was as worthless as the IC strap was back in 2013 it didn't matter if he'd beat both Wade Barrett and The Miz for it in a triple threat vout at that June's payback fans just weren't in on Curtis having a thimble full of the talent his father had and so as he proceeded to hold it for 155 days following this it basically became a forgotten part of the show with most people only noticing again once Big E mercifully Beat the Champ for his gold on an episode of Raw that November yes the 2010s were a particularly dark time for the belt once prized as being bigger than the world title to some and if you need another example of why the is you only have to look to our next subject who are we talking about this time who else but Ryback that's right back in the early 2010s Ryback was a wrestler who at one point looked like he was poised to be the next breakout star of the WWE that was until he got beat by CM Punk in a Hell in a Cell match and all his momentum was ended so in an attempt to try and rebuild this momentum then WWE had him win the Intercontinental title in an elimination chamber bout at May 31st 2015's titular pay-per-view just a a few weeks after Daniel Bryan had been forced to vacate due to injury and it's there that things got off to the worst start imaginable as this was the same match where everything completely fell apart at one point when Mark Henry's chamber pod broke but it wasn't like his run got better from there because with this being mid-2010s WWE the big guy wasn't exactly getting a lot of quality stories written for him and with him not even being a tenth as over as he had been a few years prior it meant there was little reason to get excited about any anything he was doing no if we're being honest it's very easy to forget this run ever happened because like so many others we've looked at today absolutely nothing of note took place during it hell outside of that disaster of an elimination chamber bout the most memorable thing about it was that it was Kevin Owens who eventually dethrown Ryback in September of that same year to start his own run on top and while Owens would manage to bring at least some semblance of prestige back to the once highly prized title this was all but undone again in April of 2016 as that's when Zack Ryder held it for a cup of coffee now don't get us wrong we love Zack Ryder it doesn't matter if it's his Run As Long Island Iced Z back in 2011 where he got monumentally over for a time or his current day spell in gcw and impact as Matt Cardona King of the Indies Ryder has always been great but the problem with him is that he was booked so badly by WWE for so long that at a certain point no matter how much people wanted to see him succeed it was impossible to take him seriously as a legitimate threat anymore hell so bad was it that when he was entered into a multi-man ladder match for the Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania 32 no one thought he had a chance of winning after all this was the same match that also included the likes of Sami Zayn Cody rhods and Kevin Owens but to the shock of pretty much everyone watching Ryder would get the victory here and start his first run with the secondary strap a run we all hoped would finally see him get his due except it wouldn't because the very next night on Raw he'd drop it to The Miz making us all wonder what the point of him winning it had been in the first place was it a case of giving him a metaphorical gold watch for all his time served in the company by having him come out Victorious on the grandest stage of them all possibly but if that were the case then surely it still made no sense to have him lose it just 24 hours later hell all this did was make his win look like a fluke and have him come across as someone who still couldn't really cut it as a champion but let's move away from this time period for now because if Zack Ryder marks the most recent example of a bad Intercontinental Champion we're going to be looking at today our next entry marks the earliest yes get in your time machines because we're about to go all the way back to 1996 to check in on the sad case of Wildman Mark marrow why was this so sad well because by All rights it should have been great in fact it should have been enough to catapult Meo into the upper echelon of the New York scene seriously so high was Vince McMahon on the Buffalo native at this point he'd sign him to a big money guaranteed contract the first time this had ever happened in WWF for any one who wasn't a top-of-the card performer like Hulk Hogan unfortunately though not long after Meo hit the scene in early 1996 it became apparent he wasn't going to be everything the boss had hoped he might be as he was almost immediately overshadowed by his wife Sable yes before the Wildman could even get a chance to establish himself in this new company the fans had decided that Sable was the bigger star so while WWF went all in on turning Reno Meo into a huge deal then Mark Maro was left to flounder as his Intercontinental title reign gave us nothing of note not even a single entertaining match or storyline and as if this wasn't bad enough only 28 days after it began it would be over when on the October 21st episode of Raw that year Hunter Hurst Helmsley toppled the champ and started his own first train on top A Reign which led the game to much greater success than the former Johnny B bad would ever sniff but Mark Maro shouldn't feel too bad about this because as we've seen today he's not the only failed intercontinental champion whose career hit a roadblock after the fact and and that just goes to show how important proving yourself with this particular belt can be then because if you can't cut the mustard with it then you probably can't cut the mustard with anything higher up on the card either

Channel: WRESTLE WITH ANDY

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Keywords: wwe, wrestling, wrestle with andy, wrestlewithandy, wrestling documentary, wwe documentary, wwe news, wwe list, wrestling list, WWE Top 10, wresting top 10 list, attitude era, WWF, Cody rhodes, tugboat, wrestling relatives, Cody wwe, dusty rhodes, dustin rhodes, goldust wwe, Celina vega, roddy piper bret hart, roddy piper, bret hart, Daniel bryan, road warrior animal, LWO, wwe vega, honky tonk man, jerry lawler, nasty boys, greg valentine, wwe lwo, wwe related, wwe family

Id: Bo9VJWJzhmY

Length: 18min 9sec (1089 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 18 2024