WWE's First 10 Intercontinental Champions: Where Are They Now?
Some have passed on. Others are still wrestling...
The Intercontinental Title was launched in 1979 as a secondary championship to complement the WWF Heavyweight Title. A bogus tournament was said to have taken place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the outcome being that Pat Patterson had unified both the North and South American Championships into one.
Back in those days, it was easier to fool fans with things happening in other countries. News didn't travel quite so quickly, and nobody was wise to the fact that the tournament didn't actually happen. All fans knew was what the WWF told them: Pat Patterson was the new and first Intercontinental Champion.
It says a lot for the length of title reigns in the 1980s that it took until 1988 for the 10th unique champion to be crowned. That man was The Ultimate Warrior, a wrestler who could hardly be considered more different to Patterson.
Real-life imitated art, as Warrior's life took a different turn to Patterson's away from the ring too...