WWE's First 10 Intercontinental Champions: Where Are They Now?

3. Ricky Steamboat

Ricky Steamboat George The Animal Steele
WWE.com

Epitomising the 'workhorse' tag, Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat was simply one of the best in-ring workers ever. His matches in WCW against Ric Flair are timeless enough, but Steamboat proved his worth on wrestling's biggest stage by beating Randy Savage in a true classic to become Intercontinental Champ at WrestleMania III.

Though that would be Steamboat's only title win in WWE, the match was so memorable that it granted Ricky entrance into the Hall Of Fame in 2009. It's fascinating then to learn that Steamboat only held the IC Title for a scant 65 days; his reign was the shortest in title history up until that point.

Injuries meant Steamboat did retire as a full-timer in 1994, but he has made several returns in the years since then. A one-off match against Chris Jericho at Backlash 2009 was the pick of the bunch, and proved that Steamboat could still go.

Today, he acts as an ambassador for WWE and has also worked as a trainer for NXT talent.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.