Title: 10 Best I.C. Champions
Mad Dog - January 28, 2006 05:32 PM (GMT)
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10. Ricky Steamboat 3-29-87 to 6-02-87:
A brief reign but won it in what was probably a top 10 WWF match. His reign was cut short because he asked for time off but a shorter reign was probably in his favor as the money is in Steamboat chasing for a title. |
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9. Roddy Piper 1-19-92 to 4-05-92:
Piper finally gets WWF gold. Lost it to Bret Hart in a great match. |
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8. Shawn Michaels 10-27-92 to 5-17-93:
This has the honor of being the only Michaels title reign that will make a top 10 list. He actually ::gasps:: lost the title to someone which was a surprisingly rare thing. Strong work during this reign. |
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7. Razor Ramon 9-27-93 to 4-13-94:
Ramon was probably the best I.C. Champ for the WWF in the mid and late 90s. It was as high as he was getting on the card but he was a good secondary champion. |
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6. Razor Ramon 8-29-94 to 1-22-95:
The other good run for Ramon. After this point it was really hard to have a good run as the I.C. division had nothing outside of Jeff Jarrett and Razor Ramon. |
Mad Dog - January 28, 2006 05:41 PM (GMT)
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5. Don Muraco 1-22-83 to 2-11-84:
A strong heel run with the title. Muraco did a lot to establish the belt in the early 80s. This reign I believe featured the famous cage matches with Snuka. While the actually matches were terrible they still get talked about today. |
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4. Ultimate Warrior 8-29-88 to 4-02-89:
In probably the most memorable moment in WWF history the Ultimate Warrior squashed the Honky Tonk Man like a bug to win the title. This reign probably made the Warrior as it started right and was a well booked reign. |
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3. Mr. Perfect 11-19-90 to 8-26-91:
Probably the second or third strongest heel run ever with the belt. This stands above his other reigns as he worked hurt during the last few months of it. His first reign was mared by losing it to the suicidal Kerry Von Erich. |
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2. Randy Savage 2-08-86 to 2-29-87:
Savage while he was still really good in the ring. I think this run was actually more memorable than his WWF Title run in 1988. |
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1. Honky Tonk Man 6-02-87 to 8-29-88:
Probably the only time that the I.C. Champ could tour the country and draw strong houses. HTM had fans dying to see him lose but always managed to find a way to escape. |
Mad Dog - January 28, 2006 05:42 PM (GMT)
Before you bring up Bret Hart he'd probably be No. 11 on the list.
dynamite kido - January 28, 2006 07:22 PM (GMT)
WOW, I'm surprised that Tito's run didn't get any love here. I must say that I see where you're coming from, but there's no way that HTM is number one. Then again, I'm guessing that these are REIGNS and not champions. Otherwise, you're crazy if you think that HTM is the best IC champion of all time.
Mad Dog - January 28, 2006 08:18 PM (GMT)
It's reigns mostly. Though he barely beat out Savage. Had I done this on another day I might've flipped them. Someone like Michaels is an ok champion but had some shitty runs due to his ego and not wanting to job to others.
Colcollazo - January 28, 2006 08:27 PM (GMT)
Nah, fuck that, Bret's in the top 10. What did Steamboat or Piper do in their reigns to be above Bret? Also, you forgot to mention The Rock's reign from late 97 to Slam '98. It's still the longest IC title reign in the past 10 years, and he was already pretty over.
Mad Dog - January 28, 2006 08:32 PM (GMT)
Hart's first run would probably be No. 11 on the list. Due to the lame ending to the reign it gets knocked down a few pegs. The Rock's reign is middle of the road due to the fact that Austin essentially handed him the title because he didn't care about it anymore.
Colcollazo - January 28, 2006 08:50 PM (GMT)
Bret's 2nd reign was better. To me, it marked the beginning of his prime which would run from the match with Piper at WM VIII to the time his left in '96. He had a lot of solid-good matches with Martel, HBK and Davey at Slam '92 of course. He even dragged Kamala to a match that's worth a little bit. Bret was still of course, a really great worker when he came back though.
As far as Rock goes, his reign was still handled really well.
Mad Dog - January 28, 2006 09:02 PM (GMT)
Bret will probably pop up when I do WWF Champs at least once. Rock, not so sure.
Colcollazo - January 28, 2006 09:12 PM (GMT)
At least once? Three out of his five reigns were good. The fourth one was a day so that shouldn't count, and the last one was overshadowed by Shawn AGAIN and his feud with Taker. Other than that, he was in his prime in the ring for his first three runs, drew well internationally and he wasn't as bad a draw as say Yoko, HBK or Nash. I think someone doesn't like Bret...
For Rock, those reigns from late '98/early '99 weren't good as the title kept changing hands between him and Foley, and he was the transitional champ for Austin. But his 2nd reign from '00 was good. The reigns he had after that were transitional for Austin and Brock, so I don't know if he should make it either.
Mad Dog - January 28, 2006 09:14 PM (GMT)
I think I'd do Harts first run and the one after WMX.
Scrooge McSuck - January 28, 2006 09:14 PM (GMT)
I agree 100%. Honkytonk Man was a midcard wrestler drawing main event house numbers without having to be on a card with Hogan, and this went on for nearly 18 months.
Edit: Rock's reign wasn't the longest. Randy Orton held the IC Belt for a few weeks longer with his 2003-2004 run. :D Shelton Benjamin also had quite a lengthy run (8-9 months), but both of those reigns were shit because they never defended them.
prof_plague - January 30, 2006 04:14 AM (GMT)
HTM may have held the title for some 15 months, but rarely had a clean finish. I'd consider him one of the worst champions because the belt was on him for far too long. Steamboat should have been higher with Savage, because they both added a lot of prestige to the belt.
Scrooge McSuck - January 30, 2006 04:20 AM (GMT)
WORST?!?
Honky drew money. Lots of it. Case fucking closed. :)
prof_plague - January 30, 2006 04:26 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Scrooge McSuck @ Jan 29 2006, 10:20 PM) |
WORST?!?
Honky drew money. Lots of it. Case fucking closed. :) |
What kind of prestige did he give the belt? THe belt started to lost meaning once he held it without being a real champ during that 15 month reign.
Scrooge McSuck - January 30, 2006 04:34 AM (GMT)
What the hell are you smoking? Lost meaning when?
- Warrior winning the IC Title from Honky in a matter of seconds is one of the loudest reactions to a match finish I've ever seen.
- Rude became more than a midcard joke that kissed female fans after his matches by beating the undefeated Warrior for the belt.
- Rude/Warrior had a pretty hot feud over the belt on the house show circuit between WM and SSlam '89.
- Mr. Perfect and Bret Hart both had great reigns in 1991 (and in Perfect's case, another good run in 1990 that was tarnished by the sudden arrival of Kerry von Erich)
- Roddy Piper in 1992. Period.
eStragand - January 30, 2006 04:59 AM (GMT)
Don Muraco's always been my #1 pick, but you make some good points here.
I'd put Bret's first reign up there in the top 10...even with the lame ending. During his reign, he pulled watchable matches out of guys like Skinner and Barbarian. He had the "open contract" schtick and defended the thing against the entire EVIL midcard.
During Rude's reign, he was booked as the cowardly, cheating champ. He would lose by DQ or countout and rarely got much offense in. Some people would rank Rude as a wrestler fairly favorable, but his IC reign was nothing special.
..and how cool is it to have the HonkyTonk Man, the self-proclaimed "greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time. Yer' a beautiful audience, thank yew" as #1!!? A little kayfabe always wins me over!
jamiegeist - January 30, 2006 05:55 AM (GMT)
Saw the thread, wanted to post mine before I read these and get affected by what I read:
10. Chris Jericho
9. Chris Benoit
8. Shelton Benjamin
7. Steve Austin
6. Razor Ramon
5. Mr. Perfect
4. Jeff Jarrett
3. Shawn Michaels
2. The Rock
1. Bret Hart
Edit: Oh, so it was 10 Best IC Title REIGNS, that you did here. Ah fuck it