10 WWE Stars Who Saved The Intercontinental Title
6. The Rock
During the mid-1990s, the Intercontinental Title experienced its first real fall from grace.
In the past, the belt had been held by great workers, lesser workers, future world champions, and men who were reaching the pinnacle of their careers, but it always meant something.
That changed with title reigns by the likes of Dean Douglas, Marc Mero, and, in a victory that was soon overturned, Bob 'Sparky Plugg' Holly.
The title still found its way onto the waists of future superstars like Steve Austin, but it was no longer treated as important - when it was time for Austin to lose it, he refused to job for fear of stunting his momentum. Instead, he was stripped of the belt in storyline and it was awarded to The Rock.
The Rock had an uphill battle starting out as a paper champion, but before it was all said and done, he'd emerge as one of the greatest- and longest-running - Intercontinental Champions of all time.
He emerged as a superstar with his "People's Champion" character and retained the belt through feuds with Ken Shamrock and Faarooq, then defended it against Triple H before finally losing it to the DX leader at SummerSlam 1998.
Their showdown - the third ladder match on WWE PPV - was one of the last classic IC Title battles.