Top 9 Worst Intercontinental Champions in WWE

WWE relied on Santino to be more comedic than being an actual wrestler. Hands down, Santino generated great heat as a heel and love when he was a face. Most wrestling people remember his 2007 debut as a planted audience member, defeating Umaga with help from Bobby Lashley. As a champion, Santino earned very little credibility. He even earned less when he became Intercontinental Champion again in the summer of 2008. However, I will give WWE there dues when I say they did a justice of how he lost the title both times; getting squashed by Umaga in 2007 and than surprisingly being rag-dolled by the veteran, William Regal, in late-2008.

Remember this guy? Brian Kendrick's hired gun? Final ECW Champion? 51 days as the Intercontinental Champion in 2011? Me neither.

It was the one title which alluded him his entire career until winning it from CM Punk on an episode of Raw in March of 2009...totally do not remember this ever happening. Hell, the reign only lasted about 27 days until he dropped it to Rey Mysterio at Wrestlemania 25 in 21 seconds. The fact WWE put the title belt on this guy only for him to lose it three weeks later on the grandest stage of them all in just 21 seconds, is just terrible and pathetic. To be 100% honest, I barely remember him quitting because his entire buildup to this match was just awful. I understand WWE wanted to make him a Triple Crown Winner by placing the title on him before he retired, but God, the way he went out was just comedic and no one could take the character seriously anymore.

I actually enjoyed Curtis Axel when he first repackaged and debut back in May 2013. I thought when he won the Intercontinental Champion, it would add prestige or even elevate him to main event status. He did beat guys like Miz and Wade Barrett with ease, but he began jobbing out to CM Punk during that year's summer as part of a storyline with Paul Heyman as his manager. WWE decided to make Axel look weak while being the Intercontinental Champion, which did absolutely nothing for his career. His extensive 150 something day reign was bland and painful to say the least, especially given this guy has greatness in his blood and WWE did not capitalize on it.

Man, I dread even mentioning Punk on this list but I just have to. Punk has arguably had one of the best professional wrestling careers most Indie guys and WWE veterans could ask for. But, his Intercontinental Championship win in late-2008 seemed to be forgettable to me. He took the belt from William Regal after his third attempt at the Englishman and after this, I can't recall anything important happening whilst he held the title. A few months prior, he was World Champion until he vacated the title so WWE likely slapped this title belt on him to make up for it or to make him relevant once again. Punk does not need a title belt to make him relevant; he does that on his own very well.

Umaga had a hell of a lot of momentum when he began his second run with WWE in 2006. He demolished top players like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, and John Cena. It'd make sense to eventually make this guy a world champion but that never happened. WWE halted any momentum this guy had in early-2007 when he lost twice to Cena for the WWE title and to Triple H in October that year. So, they did the next best thing and slapped the Intercontinental Title on him, twice. His first win came by defeating Jeff Hardy, which was great. But, he than dropped the title to Santino Marrella, albeit Bobby Lashley did spear him to give Marrella the pinfall win. He won it back a few months after in July and than lost it to Hardy in an extensive feud. My main problem with Umaga as IC champ was he had great potential to become World Champion at an early point in his career but creative did not believe in the character strongly enough to do so. Call me out, but, I feel this has to do more with "Missed ...more

Big Show is the greatest big man out there. He proves time and time again he can perform as a face, heel, tweener or whatever. One thing Show never did have in his career was that special Wrestlemania moment. So, at Wrestlemania 28, Show captured his first Intercontinental Championship win by defeating Cody Rhodes. The build to this moment was adequate and no one was asking for much. The fact Show lost it less than a month later back to Rhodes at Extreme Rules proved they never had a long-term goal with Show holding the title or having any impressive feuds. However, this one blotch on Show's extensive record pales in comparison to his outstanding work ethic and dedication to professional wrestling.

If you were to go back and look at some of the superstars in the past decade who had serious and legitimate chops to be world champion, Wade Barrett is at the top of that list. Barrett first won the title in 2011 from Kofi Kingston and went on to win it four more times in his career. The bad part about it is that every time Barrett won the title, WWE never had a concrete set of contenders laid out for him or any sort of plan. He maintained his mid card status following the end of the Nexus run and had lost a lot of credibility due to the end of the stable. It is impressive he has held the title 5 times but that's the sad part; the fact Barrett never got out of that muck of being "just" the Intercontinental Champion was some definite missed potential by WWE.

Ryder was completely forgotten in WWE from 2012 until about late-2015. Either he never appeared on T.V. or was just jobbed out. However, WWE hit the reboot button on Ryder's career and he was placed in a feud for the Intercontinental title, winning it at Wrestlemania 32 from The Miz in one of the most memorable Mania moments in history. His hard work and dedication to the craft paid off in this monumental moment. The depressing part is he dropped the title 24 hours later back to The Miz. The fact WWE could not see Ryder as a credible champion is why his only Mania moment will feel bittersweet.