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

Credit: WWE.com

9. Curtis Axel

Before Curtis Axel fell off a cliff into the oblivion of worthlessness, he was a part of the lower card stable Social Outcasts. Before that, he was actually a Paul Heyman Guy and held the Intercontinental Championship for 156 days.

Before winning the Intercontinental Championship, Axel was was in good company on the card with wins over Triple H, John Cena (twice!!), and Chris Jericho. This was enough for Axel to get into the title hunt for the Intercontinental Championship.

He ended up defeating to impressive adversaries in The Miz and Wade Barrett in a triple threat for the Intercontinental Championship. Axel went on to defend the title against the likes of Wade Barrett, The Miz, Chris Jericho, Kofi Kingston, and R-Truth.

The end of his run came when Paul Heyman disbanded from Axel’s side, and Axel lost the Intercontinental Championship to Big E. After losing Heyman and the Intercontinental Championship, Axel began his descent into obscurity.

This seems like an impressive run with the belt with multiple title defenses against worthy opponents for a lengthy title reign. However, the problem was that the Intercontinental Championship was never the focal point of any storylines.

Axel, Intercontinental Champion, was always playing second fiddle for the main storylines of Paul Heyman’s other guys, CM Punk and Ryback.

Whether Axel was helping CM Punk or helping Ryback against CM Punk, it always seemed like Axel was brought in as a supporting cast member rather than as a lead role as a title holder.

A decent run with the belt helps Axel’s stock on this list, but the falling prestige of the belt during his reign hurts it. So, he finds himself in the middle spot at number 9.