WWE Intercontinental Championship

WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship in WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). It is the first secondary title of WWE. It has been the exclusive secondary championship of WWE's weekly TV show Raw since April 2017 when the champion at the time Dean Ambrose was moved to the show from SmackDown in the 2017 Superstar Shake-Up.

History 
The WWE Intercontinental Championship was first known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Intercontinental Championship, until the WWE/WWF 2002 Lawsuit. Following the title's introduction in 1979, Pat Patterson became the inaugural champion on September 15. The title's creation came as a result of Patterson defeating Ted DiBiase to win the WWF North American Championship and defending the title in a fictional tournament held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to be unified with a South American Championship.

In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation bought World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, "The Invasion" took place in which the WCW/ECW Alliance was ultimately dismantled. At Survivor Series 2001, the title was unified with the WCW United States Championship. The United States Champion, Edge, won against the Intercontinental Champion, Test, and became the new Intercontinental Champion while the United States Championship became inactive. 

After the WWF/WWE name change in 2002, the championship became known as the WWE Intercontinental Championship. It was then unified with the European Championship in a ladder match on July 22, and later the Hardcore Championship on August 26. The Intercontinental Champion, Rob Van Dam, won against the European Champion, Jeff Hardy, and the Hardcore Champion, Tommy Dreamer. As a result, Rob Van Dam was named the last European and Hardcore Champion. Then at No Mercy 2002, it was unified with the World Heavyweight Championship. The World Heavyweight Champion, Triple H, won against the Intercontinental Champion, Kane, and continued to be the World Heavyweight Champion while the Intercontinental Championship became inactive. In May 2003, after fan protests of the retirement of the Intercontinental Title, the title was reactivated by Raw Co-General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and was recommissioned to be the secondary championship for the Raw brand. Shortly after, the WCW United States Championship was reactivated as the WWE United States Championship by the SmackDown! brand, making the Intercontinental Championship its equal counterpart for the Raw brand. During the 2009 WWE Draft the two title swapped brands, making the Intercontinental Championship SmackDown property and the US Title Raw property. On August 29, 2011, all WWE programming became "Supershows" that feature wrestlers from both brands, ending the brand extension. All WWE titles can now be defended at any WWE event. 

At WrestleMania 32, the title was won by Zack Ryder in a seven-man ladder match, losing it the next night to The Miz on Raw.  The brand split was brought back in July of 2016, with the Miz being drafted to SmackDown Live, bringing the Intercontinental title to that show.  After a long feud with Dolph Ziggler over the title, the Miz lost the belt to Dean Ambrose on an episode of SmackDown Live on January 3, 2017. Ambrose was drafted to Raw in the 2017 Superstar Shake-Up, bringing the Intercontinental title to that show.

Current Champion 
Sami Zayn won the title from Braun Strowman in a 3-on-1 handicap match with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, he could not defend his title. So a tournament was held for the Intercontinental Championship. In finals between Daniel Bryan and Aj Styles, Aj styles won the championship for first time.

Related pages
 List of WWE Intercontinental Champions

References

Other websites 
 WWE Intercontinental Title History

World Wrestling Entertainment championships
1979 establishments