A two-time Intercontinental Champion, the legendary Pedro Morales was the third person to ever hold the title, and the first person to hold it for over a year. When he completed his second reign with the IC title, dropping it to Don Muraco in January 1983, hed held it for 425 days. Thats the second longest reign of all time, only twenty-nine days off the Honky Tonk Mans record, and eleven days longer than the Macho Man Randy Savages legendary run. Pedro Morales was the first Triple Crown Champion in WWF/E history, meaning the first man in history to win the world heavyweight championship, the Intercontinental Championship and the tag team championship. Added to that, his reign with the WWWF United States Championship meant that he was the only man in history to have held all of the companys titles. Morales held that distinction for two decades. More than that, he was the first ever Latino to carry one of wrestlings world titles, the most prestigious in the business, and as the 4th ever WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, he gave the Intercontinental Championship a significant rub when he beat Ken Patera for the title in December 1980. Elevating the championship from a midcard curiosity to something worth challenging for, Morales was instrumental in giving the title the shine it had throughout the eighties, something that helped to elevate the careers of everyone who won the title during that period. Over three decades later, the Intercontinental Championship doesnt have that shine anymore, and a succession of lower card losers holding onto the title has tarnished the once bright metal of the belt, giving it an uneasy reputation of being cursed. Daniel Bryan could have been the man to bring that lustre back to the legendary title, but he was forced to vacate it due to injury, and his subsequent retirement hasnt laid those curse whispers to rest. Lets see if the WWEs vibrant midcard scene can resurrect the Intercontinental Championship from the doldrums in the post-WrestleMania season...
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
