20 Longest WWE Intercontinental Title Reigns

The Ultimate Warrior's first Intercontinental Championship win is the stuff of legend.

For what seemed like forever, the Honky Tonk Man had been managing to keep hold of his IC Title by hook or by crook. During this time, Warrior had been tearing through the WWF card and gathering a huge fanbase along the way.

As you can see from the above video, Honky Tonk Man made the schoolboy error of doing an open challenge at Summerslam 1988 after planned opponent Brutus Beefcake was ruled out by injury. Hit that famous music, and then you see the rippling, hulking form of the Ultimate Warrior sprinting down to the ring to run right through Honky and take the Intercontinental Title.

After winning IC gold, Warrior went on to partake in one of his most famous feuds as Rick Rude challenged the Parts Unknown native for his title. What started as a "Super Posedown" at Royal Rumble 1989 went on to culminate in Rude pinning Warrior for his Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania 5 with some help from Bobby Heenan.

It was clear to see, with Warrior being given a 216-day IC Title run and working extensively with Rick Rude, the powers that be at Titan Towers were grooming Warrior for bigger things.