10 Things You Didn’t Know About WWE’s Intercontinental Title

10. The Name Only Actually Refers To Two Continents

Pat Patterson Intercontinental Title
WWE.com/Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Listen to WWE's kayfabe'd report on the matter and you'll learn that Pat Patterson definitely won a fictio...erm...100% real tournament in Rio de Janeiro to become the very first IC Champion in 1979. Obviously, that never happened. The tourney was nothing more than a storyline excuse to debut the new belt.

It was a replacement for Patterson's old North American Championship.

Pat had beaten Ted DiBiase to win that title in June '79, and the WWF fancied concocting an elaborate backstory to give Patterson's reign more prestige and parlay into new title territory. Thus, fans were told he bested Johnny Rodz in a tournament final in Brazil to win Rodz' (totally made up) South American Heavyweight Championship.

Those are the continents referred to in the Intercontinental name: North America and South America. Others, like Europe and Africa, aren't involved, meaning the IC belt is really an Inter-American Title more than anything. Of course, that name would be sh*t by comparison. Just saying.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.