5 Great Inaugural WWE Champions (And 5 That Sucked)

3. Pat Patterson - WWE Intercontinental Champion

The Intercontinental Championship has long been seen as the "workers' title". Over its long history, men like Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and Eddie Guerrero had scintillating matches for the belt before ever tasting heavyweight gold.

Likewise, stars like Tito Santana, Ricky Steamboat, Mr. Perfect, Owen Hart, and Shelton Benjamin may not have held the WWE Title, but they were legendary as Intercontinental Champions.

Given that list of talent, it's only fitting that the very first Intercontinental Champion was one of WWE's best workers of the era, Pat Patterson. Granted, there's a lot of fiction surrounding the birth of the title - there was no tournament in Rio de Janeiro, nor were the North American Championship and the "South American Championship" (a fictitious belt) unified.

Patterson was simply the reigning North American Champion, and he was then given the new Intercontinental Title.

Despite all that, Patterson got the belt off to a great start. During his reign, he turned babyface, providing fans with a more colorful hero than WWE Champion Bob Backlund. He never recaptured the title after losing it to Ken Patera, but he made his statement successfully.