CvC 2.0: The Worst Intercontinental Champion of All Time

Black Division
John Nicolaides vs Jacob Waring
Worst Intercontinental Champion of All Time

Who is the worst Intercontinental champion of all time? With 67 different champions over the championships' 32-year history, there are many choices.

When thinking about the worst Intercontinental champions in history, it's easy to consider names such as The Mountie or Dean Douglas.

The Mountie ended Bret "The Hitman" Hart's five-month reign as Intercontinental champion at the Royal Rumble in 1992. The Mountie (with the assistance of his stupid gimmick) only lasted two days as champion, dropping the title to Roddy Piper.

Dean Douglas was handed the Intercontinental championship on October 22nd 1995, as Shawn Michaels vacated the title due to injuries. Douglas was go on to relinquish the championship to Razor Ramon that same night.

These were two of the shortest reigns in the history of the Intercontinental championship. However, with less emphasis on the length of the reign, neither man is the worst champion in history.

Why? Championship prestige and legitimacy.

From it's inception, the Intercontinental Championship, whilst the secondary title in the WWE, was considered to be a major accomplishment. The championship was often held by the best workers in the company.

This gave the intercontinental title legitimacy and worth. A status that the championship maintained throughout the 1990s. Though The Mountie and Dean Douglas had terrible reigns and/or gimmicks, they never had a lasting negative impact on the Intercontinental Championship.

Present day, the Intercontinental Championship is past its glory days as the "workhorse" title. Due to a combination of lackluster champions, a lack of build up and an overall absence of effort by Creative, the Intercontinental Championship has lost its credibility.

Despite the opinions of the IWC, in my view, the championship has lost its legitimacy and worth with casual fans (or WWE Universe).

There is no definitive date for the downfall of the IC championship. Its degradation is a process that has taken years to occur.

With that in mind, the worst IC champion in history is the superstar who I believe to have tarnished the prestige of the title the most.

This superstar is Santino Marella.

Santino's two runs as Intercontinental champion totaled 126 days. On paper, this looks good. However, let's look at how Santino won these championships.

His first run came in April on 2007. RAW was in Milan, Italy and Mr. McMahon called out a fan to challenge Umaga for the IC championship. This fan was Santino Marella, and with the help of Bobby Lashley, he captured the title.

This makes the title look weak, as a random (Kayfabe) member of the audience is, not only challenging, but winning the championship.

Santino's fist reign as champion was far better than his second though. As during his first run, he was a serious competitor.

His second reign came about during the early days of Marella's campy, comedic character he plays today. At this time he was teamed with Beth Pheonix, in a power couple known as "Glamarella." I'm not joking.

Santino won his second IC championship at Summerslam 2008, in an inter-gender tag team match in which both the Intercontinental and Women's championships were on the line.

It was Glamarella vs Kofi Kingston and Mickie James. Beth Pheonix pinned Mickie, giving Santino his second IC title reign.

Marella proceeded to make a mockery out of his run, promising to become "the greatest Intercontinental champion of all the times." The only purpose this reign served was to further develop his comedic character, leaving the IC championship on the back burner.

To prove this, look at what Santino accomplished in the months after he lost his second, and as of now, last IC championship. He set a new record for shortest time in the Royal Rumble at 1.9 seconds, and at Wrestlemania, he became the first 'Miss Wrestlemania' as Santina Marella.

See my point? Marella's title reigns were more about comedy than they were the intercontinental championship. It wasn't long before his first reign with the title that it was held by such names as Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro (Morrison).

In 10 years the IC title went from a legitimate, prestigious secondary championship to a prop used to give Ezekiel Jackson and Wade Barrett something to do.

Of course the blame can't be placed solely on Santino, as his poor reigns were a result of equally poor booking. The type of poor booking that resurfaced late last year, when Santino Marella and Vladimir Koslov became tag-team champions and further damaged the legitimacy of those belts, and the division.

To his credit, Santino plays his role very well as the comedic relief on RAW. It should, however, never be combined with championships.

At a time when the Intercontinental title was already losing it's luster, Santino Marella was a poorly mistimed champion, to the detriment of a championship once worn by legends such as Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock.

Check out Jacob Waring's Article Here.