8. WWF Intercontinental Championship (1991): Mr. Perfect (c) vs. Bret Hart
Ah, remember back when the Intercontinental Championship was traded between young, rising stars? And you could almost count on a really good title match for the IC strap at any given time? Remember that next time you look at Intercontinental champ The Miz. But in 1991, Curt Hennig defended his Intercontinental Championship (which he had held for 13 of the previous 16 months) against former tag-team specialist Bret The Hitman Hart. Hart had had a taste of singles action previously, but this was essentially his coming out party. He and Perfect traded moves until Hart caught a legdrop attempt and turned it into the Sharpshooter for the submission victory and his first singles title. The IC title victory would launch Hart into a new phase of his career after spending about six years predominantly as a tag team wrestler. He would go on to capture multiple world titles and become one of the WWFs biggest stars of the 90s, a WWE Hall of Famer and a revered icon in professional wrestling.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
