4. Unforgiven 2001: Winning First Intercontinental Championship
Christian's first major singles gold came at the expense of his 'brother' and now former tag team partner Edge at the September 2001 pay-per-view Unforgiven. Christian took pinned Edge after hitting an illegal low-blow which the referee failed to see. Tension has arose between the pair after Edge won the June 2001 King of the Ring tournament. A jealous Christian eventually turned his back on Edge, with his partner's victory over Lance Storm for the Intercontinental title at Summerslam seemingly being the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of Christian's envy. Christian only held the title for 4 weeks, he lost the title back to Edge in a ladder match at the No Mercy pay-per-view in October 2001. This marked the end of their feud, but the title win was enough to establish and legitimatise Christian as a singles competitor. Eleven days after losing his Intercontinental title, he captured the European Championship from Bradshaw on the November 1 edition of Smackdown, marking the start of a near three month reign.