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WWE: 5 Intercontinental Title feuds to watch while socially isolating

By Bruce Lee Hazelwood

Hall of Fame inductee Shawn Michaels attends the WWE 2011 Hall Of Fame Induction at Phillips Arena on April 2, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by George Napolitano/FilmMagic)
Hall of Fame inductee Shawn Michaels attends the WWE 2011 Hall Of Fame Induction at Phillips Arena on April 2, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by George Napolitano/FilmMagic) /
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“The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon vs. “Heart Break Kid” Shawn Michaels (late 1993-Aug. 27, 1995)

Outside of Savage-Steamboat, this is probably the other most-cited Intercontinental Championship rivalry from the mouth of fans. After all, it introduced the ladder match to WWF/E (even though it had happened before, even in the promotion) and revolutionized the next 20 years of wrestling.

If it wasn’t for this rivalry, we may not have had the indelible image of Edge leaping off a ladder to spear Jeff Hardy, who was hanging in the air while holding onto the Tag Team Championship.

(Side note: Edge and Jeff Hardy are also two great IC Champions.)

Also, much like Savage-Steamboat, this melded the art of storytelling and in-ring work perfectly. Do you remember how this rivalry even started?

The “Heart Break Kid” was suspended while champion, leading to Ramon defeating Rick Martel to become the champion. HBK returned with his old title in hand claiming he was the rightful champion since he never lost (kind of like the Cena-Punk rivalry of 2011).

This led to their initial ladder match at WrestleMania X (in my opinion, one of the best WrestleMania events), which, I mean, just watch.

If you’ve never seen this match, it probably seems rather tame compared to ladder matches of recent years. However, this match was revolutionary, and that picture of Michaels flying off the ladder with a picture-perfect splash is one everyone immediately can identify.

This feud continued through matches with Ramon and Diesel, HBK’s bodyguard. Diesel actually captured the title from Ramon on the Apr. 30, 1994 episode of Superstars with help from Michaels.

Ramon would become champion again at SummerSlam after Michaels accidentally hit Sweet Chin Music on Diesel, leading to their eventual split and World Championship match at WrestleMania XI, which Michaels lost.

In the meantime, Ramon dropped the title to Jeff Jarrett at the 1995 Royal Rumble, who subsequently lost the title to HBK in the aforementioned match at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks.

This led to HBK and Ramon having another ladder match at SummerSlam in 1995, the one embedded at the top of this page. I actually preferred this match to their match at WrestleMania X, but they’re both fantastic. HBK won this time, ending his feud with Ramon and solidifying his place as one of the best Intercontinental Champions.

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