The Day The WWE Intercontinental Title Died

7. A Bona Fide Main Event Attraction

Triple H Kane
WWE.com

As the 1970s rolled into the '80s, the World Wrestling Federation rightly did everything it could to position the Intercontinental Champion as a genuine big deal. And to the company's credit, they 100% succeeded in doing just that.

With the company usually running live events in two different venues on the same night, the Intercontinental Champion was often handed the task of headlining one of these shows - with this title alone being enough to draw in the paying public.

Given how he was a former World Champion in the company, Pedro Morales was a particular draw for crowds during his time as the Intercontinental Champion. Likewise, Tito Santana was another who crowds went wild for as the headlining IC Champ. Moreover, not only was the Intercontinental Champion put in main events, but the championship also featured main event-worthy rivalries.

The Tito Santana and Greg Valentine rivalry was big money. The Tito Santana and Randy Savage rivalry was big money. The Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat rivalry was big money. And even the Honky Tonk Man's time with the belt brought asses to seats, with people eager to see the cocksure prick get his comeuppance.

In terms of main event spotlights, it doesn't get any bigger than a Wembley Stadium crowd of 80,000 people watching Bret Hart defending his Intercontinental Championship against Davey Boy Smith in the final match on the card at SummerSlam '92.

Not only did the title get positioned in a huge spot at the 1992 edition of SummerSlam, Bret and the British Bulldog put on an absolute clinic.

Which nicely brings us to...

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.