Intercontinental Championship

The Intercontinental Championship was introduced on the first episode of Raw with he first champion being John Cena, who defeated Ryback to win the title. It is currently the mid-card championship on SmackDown.

## History

The first Intercontinental Champion was John Cena, who won the title against Ryback, and then defended it against the Big Guy at Extreme Rules in a Last Man Standing Match. Cena would defend the belt in an open challenge a few times, which would lead to the recently returned CM Punk capturing the belt on Raw. Punk would do his best to avoid Cena, refusing to take part in their match at King of the Ring, and taking advantage of a dangerous fall from Cena in their steel cage at Summerslam. Eventually the two met at Unforgiven in a Ladder Match, which saw Punk walk out champion once again after interference from Baron Corbin, signifying the end of their rivalry.

Punk's long reign finally came to an end at the hands of Corbin, who pinned Rusev in a fatal four way also involving Shawn Michaels on the Raw Season 1 Finale. Soon after, Corbin made his first appearance on SmackDown, taking the belt with him and making it SmackDown exclusive. Apollo Crews won a battle royal to earn the first shot at Corbin, and defeated him at Survivor Series with a standing moonsault to capture his first main roster gold. On the December 13th edition of SmackDown, Crews and Corbin met in a rematch, where Corbin would become a two-time champion with the End of Days. Corbin's reign would last mere days, however, as he was defeated at Armageddon by The Miz, who earned his shot by defeating Corbin in November.

The Miz lost the belt back to Baron Corbin at Royal Rumble, as the Lone Wolf became a three-time champion. Corbin's next defense would come at Fastlane, against Randy Orton. The Viper struck, becoming the new champ and injuring Corbin in the process. Randy made his first title defense at WrestleMania, against Tyson Kidd and former ally Braun Strowman. Randy Orton would then be involved in a feud with Sami Zayn, defeating him cleanly at Backlash, but Sami would get his win back in a non-title match on SmackDown. At Money in the Bank, the two faced off again, but the returning Baron Corbin would interfere, attacking Orton and giving him a disqualification victory. The two bitter rivals would look to settle the score at Battleground  in a No Holds Barred match, which saw the Viper stand tall yet again. In a number one contenders match, Kenny Omega pulled off a huge win, defeating Brock Lesnar, before ending the title reign of Randy Orton at Summerslam. In Orton's rematch clause at No Mercy, the Cleaner won again, pinning Orton for a second time.

After a title defense against Orton's ally Baron Corbin at Halloween Havoc , a potential dream match was set up for Omega, as AJ Styles challenged him to a championship match after an offer to rejoin The Club was rebuked. Omega beat Styles at Survivor Series , but their feud was far from over. Matt and Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks, saved Kenny after a beatdown by The Club, forming The Elite. The two factions met at Armageddon in a match were Omega's championship was on the line, and this stipulation saw Styles become the new champion. "The Cleaner" and the "Phenomenal One" met again weeks later on SmackDown, this time fighting to a time limit draw, before both men met again in the Royal Rumble match. At Elimination Chamber , Kenny Omega earned another championship match by defeating Ricochet, setting up one final encouncter with AJ Styles. The two men set up an Anything Goes match, where the loser would be fired from SmackDown Live. They went to war at WrestleMania , and Styles won again, as Omega departed the blue brand and Universe Mode.
Styles would defeat Ricochet at Backlash  and Andrade "Cien" Almas at Judgement Day , becoming a fan favorite due to his incredible work ethic and respect for the wrestling business. But someone didn't respect AJ, and that was new SmackDown acquisition Finn Balor, who led Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows in a revolt against Styles. Balor would defeat AJ to win the title at Money in the Bank , and do it again at Battleground with Gallows and Anderson banned from ringside. But at Summerslam , AJ got revenge through Ricochet, as "The One and Only" defeated Balor to become Intercontinental Champion. Ricochet and Balor would face off in a ladder match at Clash of Champions , and Ricochet retained the championship, and retained again at Halloween Havoc against Styles and Almas in a triple threat match. But at Survivor Series , Andrade finally got his hands on the championship thanks to some help from Zelina Vega.

No one could deny that the IC belt looked great on "El Idolo", but even his rougish charm was dwarfed by the sudden popularity of Chad Gable, who had been the sole survivor for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. Gable and Andrade would face off multiple times for the strap, marking perhaps the greatest feud in the title's history. Their first meeting came at Starrcade, where Gable won but by DQ thanks to a low blow, meaning Andrade remained champion. Gable would quickly get his shot at revenge, as the two men started the Royal Rumble match, but thanks to help from The Miz, Andrade stayed one step ahead in that encounter. Intent on finally determining a winner in this feud, SmackDown GM Edge would book the two men to fight it out in a Steel Cage. But at Fastlane, Almas won the day once again, proving to be one heck of a resourceful champion by using a loose boot to escape Gable's ankle lock, before delivering another low blow and escaping the cage. It seemed like Andrade had finally met his match at WrestleMania III, when he was forced to defend his title in a six-man ladder match against Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio and Ricochet. But with Mysterio and Ricochet fighting atop the ladder, Andrade would send them both flying through a stack of tables, before retrieving his title and once again surviving mortal peril as champion. Finally, though, all these narrow escapes would catch up to the champion, when at Judgment Day, Chad Gable got help from former tag partner Jason Jordan, as American Alpha defeated Almas and Bobby Roode in tag action. At Money in the Bank, Gable's long quest to become champion was finally realized, tapping out Andrade.
A couple days later, Matt Hardy defeated Jeff Hardy to become number one contender, and the first challenger for Chad Gable. In an Extreme Rules rematch from over two years prior, American Alpha faced off against the Hardy Boyz on the June 25th edition of SmackDown, where Matt and Jeff came out ahead once more. At The Bash, Gable got revenge, defeating Matt to defend his title for the first time. But Gable's days as champion were already numbered. Rusev emerged as the newest monster on SmackDown, destroying both American Alpha and the Hardy Boyz, before conquering Gable at Summerslam for a quick title change.

"The Bulgarian Brute" already had a first challenger, as The Balor Club had defeated The New Day in six man action back in July, earning leader and former champion Finn Balor a title shot. Finn had now cast aside Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and paid for it, being slammed through a table by Rusev on SmackDown and was defeated in his title match at Halloween Havoc. All this time, Rusev had been at war with tag team wrestling, that being the reason he went after the Hardy Boyz and American Alpha earlier in the year, and took down The Balor Club. But that war would come at a cost, as The New Day stepped up to the plate, intent on humbling the champion. With help from Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, Big E woud take down Rusev at Survivor Series to win his first singles title.