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

9. An IC Title Match Was WWE's First Ever Triple Threat

Goldust Triple H Owen Hart First Triple Threat
WWE.com

The 23 June 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw had big stars like The Undertaker, Mankind and The LOD on the card, and it also featured short, quirky gems such as Flash Funk vs. ECW's Sabu. On the very same show, the WWF made federation history with the Intercontinental Title.

Goldust vs. Triple H vs. Owen Hart was the first ever Triple Threat in the company.

In a nice touch, first champ Pat Patterson was selected as the special guest referee for the match. See? 1997 wasn't all about degenerates, Sable's chest, the 'Montreal Screwjob' or Steve Austin's unstoppable rise. It had a sentimental nod towards Intercontinental traditions and paved the way for a new match type too.

If you revisit the match on the Network, don't expect it to live up to some Triple Threats from today. It's hardly bad, but it's important to remember these guys were figuring out how things worked. It was fairly new to them, after all, and an established formula wasn't quite there yet.

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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.