The Day The WWE Intercontinental Title Died

3. Still Some Great Matches

Triple H Kane
WWE

Even when the Intercontinental Champion became a hot potato that was passed from wrestler to wrestler on a scarily frequent basis, there was still a workhouse element to the championship at times.

They may not have had lengthy reigns with the Intercontinental Championship, but there's no argument to say that names like Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Christian, Jeff Jarrett, Lance Storm, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, and William Regal didn't have high quality matches when the opportunity allowed it.

Even after those aforementioned names first dabbled in the Intercontinental Championship ranks, you had Jeff Hardy, Randy Orton, Carlito, and Shelton Benjamin as just a few examples of great in-ring workers who got to hold that title as the 2000s progressed.

The match quality of those so often involved in the hunt for the Intercontinental Championship was still at a high level throughout the 2000s, and that is something that had maintained intact even if the belt itself had long since started to be treated as an afterthought by Vince McMahon and those pulling the strings in WWE at that point in time.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.