pirata morgan has held the intercontinental championship the most times.
pirata morgan has held the intercontinental championship the most times.
who has held the intercontinental championship the most times?
pirata morgan
the ongoing rivalry between chris benoit and chris jericho over the wwf intercontinental championship began at wreslemania 2000 where benoit and jericho along with kurt angle faced each other in a two fall triple threat match for both angle's intercontinental championship and european championship. benoit won the intercontinental championship after pinning jericho while jericho won the european championship after pinning benoit. jericho lost the european championship to eddie guerrero the following night on raw is war after chyna turned on jericho for guerrero. benoit defended the intercontinental championship against jericho at backlash where benoit won by disqualification after jericho used the title belt to defend himself from benoit's diving headbutt and was disqualified as a result. benoit and jericho had a rematch for the title on the may 4 episode of smackdown! where jericho won after hitting benoit with the title belt then hitting him with the lionsault while referee earl hebner was thrown out of the ring by benoit. after aiding the rock, confronting and insulting the mcmahon-helmsley faction, jericho was forced to defend the intercontinental championship on the may 8 episode of raw is war. after retaining the title against kurt angle and big show, jericho lost the intercontinental championship back to benoit after special guest referee triple h purposely got distracted by his wife stephanie mcmahon-helmsley while benoit tapped out to the walls of jericho and after jericho hit him to get his attention triple h hit jericho from behind causing jericho to be locked in benoit's crippler crossface before triple h called for the bell and awarded the title to benoit despite jericho not submitting. benoit later announced that he would give jericho a rematch for the intercontinental championship at judgment day in a submission match.
judgment day (2000)
on july 22, nakamura defeated hirooki goto to win the iwgp intercontinental championship for the first time. in august's 2012 g1 climax tournament, nakamura wrestled in the same block as fellow chaos member and recent iwgp heavyweight champion kazuchika okada. the two stablemates faced each other on august 5, with nakamura picking up the win, effectively solidifying his spot as the leader of chaos in the process. after four wins and three losses, nakamura was defeated in the final day of the tournament by hiroyoshi tenzan and was thus eliminated from the finals, failing to defend his crown. on august 26, nakamura traveled to the united states to make his first successful defense of the iwgp intercontinental championship, defeating oliver john at a sacramento wrestling federation (swf) event in gridley, california. the following day, nakamura threw the ceremonial first pitch at a major league baseball game between the texas rangers and tampa bay rays in arlington, texas. on october 8 at king of pro-wrestling, nakamura successfully defended the iwgp intercontinental championship in a rematch against hirooki goto. on november 11 at power struggle, nakamura made his third successful defense against karl anderson. from november 20 to december 1, nakamura took part in the round-robin portion of the 2012 world tag league, alongside stablemate tomohiro ishii under the tag team name chaos invincible. the team finished with a record of three wins, which included a win over stablemates kazuchika okada and yoshi-hashi as well as three losses, failing to advance from their block. on january 4, 2013 at wrestle kingdom 7 in tokyo dome, nakamura defeated kazushi sakuraba for his fourth successful defense of the iwgp intercontinental championship. from january 18 to 19, nakamura took part in the fantastica mania 2013 weekend, co-promoted by new japan and cmll. in the main event of the second night, nakamura made his fifth successful defense of the iwgp intercontinental championship against la sombra. in early 2013, nakamura became involved in chaos' rivalry with new japan's other top villainous stable, suzuki-gun. on march 3 at new japan's 41st anniversary event, nakamura defeated suzuki-gun's lance archer for his sixth successful title defense. on april 5, nakamura and ishii unsuccessfully challenged k.e.s. (archer and davey boy smith jr.) for the iwgp tag team championship. two days later at invasion attack, nakamura successfully defended the iwgp intercontinental championship against smith, avenging the previous loss from the first round of the new japan cup. on may 3 at wrestling dontaku 2013, nakamura defeated suzuki-gun's newest member shelton x benjamin for his eighth successful defense of the iwgp intercontinental championship.
shinsuke nakamura