Claim: Dwayne Douglas Johnson wrestles professionally.

right | thumb | 200px | Two-time and current champion Dean Ambrose  The WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling championship contested in and owned by the American promotion WWE on the Raw brand . The title was introduced into WWE in 1979 , which was known as the World Wrestling Federation -LRB- WWF -RRB- at the time . Pat Patterson , holder of the WWF North American Heavyweight Championship , was awarded the title -LRB- with the kayfabe explanation that he won a tournament in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil and unified the North American and South American titles -RRB- .   The Intercontinental Championship has been called the second most important championship in the company , after the WWE Championship . It has been active in WWE for the second longest period , but is the third oldest active title , behind the WWE Championship -LRB- 1963 -RRB- and the United States Championship -LRB- 1975 -RRB- , the latter of which was acquired from World Championship Wrestling -LRB- WCW -RRB- in 2001 . In 2002 , the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment -LRB- WWE -RRB- , and the championship was renamed as the WWE Intercontinental Championship . As a result of the 2017 WWE Superstar Shake-up , it is exclusively contested on the Raw brand .   Overall , there have been 78 different Intercontinental Champions . Chris Jericho holds the record for the most reigns with nine , The Honky Tonk Man holds the longest reign at 454 days . Only three more wrestlers -- Pedro Morales , Don Muraco , and Randy Savage -- have held the championship for a continuous reign of more than a year . The current champion is Dean Ambrose , in his second reign , after defeating The Miz at SmackDown Live on January 3 , 2017 .