All 17 WWE Intercontinental Champions of the 2010’s So Far, Ranked

Credit: WWE.com

17. Big Show

At WrestleMania 28, Big Show managed to finally have his “WrestleMania Moment” when he defeated the then Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes for the belt.

The entire feud developed when Rhodes eliminated Show from the Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Show then set his eyes on the Intercontinental Championship as a sort of consolation prize.

Rhodes continued to torment Show for never having a true WrestleMania moment, but the latter man proved him wrong by defeating Rhodes at WrestleMania. Sadly, it was a rather forgettable moment that fans were not too invested in.

So, after a lackluster 28-day reign, Show relinquished the prize back to Rhodes, but it was never the same.

Rhodes’ reign made the belt seem like a prestigious almost unobtainable goal, but because Show stepped down from the main event scene to take the belt and lose it so quickly, the belt then became virtually worthless.

After Show’s unmemorable run, the belt was like a hot potato that was traded among midcarders with the champions losing often and seeming like anything but champions.

Out of all of the ineffective title reigns to follow, Show’s was most definitely the most pointless. To take such a credible and accomplished championship reign and bring to an end, just give it to a transitional champion with more upside left in his past rather than in his future, could only do harm to the then prestigious belt, and that is exactly what it did.

So, was the complete destruction of the Intercontinental Championships reputation worth that “WrestleMania moment”? Probably not.