The WWE Intercontinental Championship was established in 1979, and is present in the company since then as a mid-card championship. Many great wrestling legends have held the belt, and made the title very prestigious.
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While the prestige of the title has gone up and down over the years, it still remains the most sought out prize after the World Titles. The title is mostly used to either put over young upcoming stars, or for some wrestlers to bring their careers back on track. However, we've also seen some old people hold win the championship.
10 Christian - 38 Years, 5 Months, 21 Days
Christian was never really considered to be main-event material by WWE, but he still had a pretty memorable WWE career as he had a lot of success in the mid-card and tag team divisions. He won the Intercontinental Championship 4 times.
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He won the Intercontinental Title for the 4th and final time in 2012 by beating Cody Rhodes at Over The Limit. He was a little over 38 years old at the time. He was going to have a chance to win the title again in 2014 as he was supposed to dethrone then-champion Big E, but he got a concussion which ruled him out and forced him to retire for more than 6 years.
9 Pedro Morales - 39 Years, 1 Month, 2 Days
Pedro Morales first joined WWE way back in 1970. He won the WWE Championship in 1971, and held it for a mind-boggling 1027 days. He'd win the Intercontinental Title yet again during his second run in WWE.
Morales was the third ever Intercontinental Champion as he won the title in 1980, just a year after its introduction. He won the title once again in 1981 from Don Muraco, at 39 years old. He held the title for a solid 425 days before losing it to Muraco again.
8 The Big Show - 40 Years, 1 Month, 25 Days
The Big Show had a pretty long WWE career, where he accomplished a lot. He became a Grand Slam Champion, as he won all championships. The Intercontinental Title was actually the one which he won to become a Grand Slam Champ.
At WrestleMania 28, the 40-year-old Big Show challenged Cody Rhodes for the title, and successfully won the match. He lost the title back to Cody Rhodes in the same month in a tables match at the Extreme Rules PPV.
7 William Regal - 40 Years, 6 Month, 1 Day
William Regal had various gimmicks and roles in the long time he was employed in WWE. As far as championships are concerned, he won the Hardcore, European, World Tag Team and Intercontinental Championships multiple times each.
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He got his hands on the Intercontinental gold twice, first in 2002 and then in 2008. Regal's second IC title win happened just after his King of the Ring win as he beat Santino Marella for the title. Regal was 40 years old at the time of the win.
6 Shinsuke Nakamura - 41 Years, 5 Months, 21 Days
Shinsuke Nakamura's name in this list is obvious since he joined WWE pretty late in his career, as he made his WWE main roster debut at the age of 37. He was initially pushed a lot and he challenged for the WWE Title multiple times, even winning the Royal Rumble, but was pushed down the card after he lost the feud with AJ Styles.
He went on to win both United States & Intercontinental Title two times each. His second Intercontinental Title win was in 2021, when a 41-year-old Nakamura beat Apollo Crews for the title on SmackDown. He held the title for 182 days, but barely had any title defenses and and lost the belt to Sami Zayn.
5 JBL - 42 Years, 3 Months, 10 Days
JBL had a very long WWE career too, where he was both a wrestler and later a commentator. He made his WWE televised debut in 1996, and would win every championship in WWE eventually, including the Intercontinental Championship.
JBL became a commentator in 2006, and wrestled on a part-time basis. He won the Intercontinental Championship from CM Punk in 2009 at 42 years of age. However, the reign didn't long as he lost it to Rey Mysterio just 27 days later, and retired immediately.
4 Bobby Lashley - 42 Years, 7 Months, 24 Days
Bobby Lashley is currently in WWE in his second run. His first WWE run lasted from 2005 to 2008. He made his long awaited return in 2018 on the Raw episode after WrestleMania 34. His booking wasn't good initially but it gradually improved.
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He won the Intercontinental Championship twice in 2019. The first time he won it from Dean Ambrose, while the second time he won it from Finn Balor. He was 42 years old during his second title win. Despite being quite old, Lashley hasn't shown any signs of stopping, in fact he only keeps getting better, and he might even win another IC Title in the future.
3 Jeff Hardy - 42 Years, 11 Months, 22 Days
Jeff Hardy being in this list is quite interesting as he's also the youngest Intercontinental Champion, as he won the title for the first time at the age of 23. The Charismatic Enigma went on to win the championship 4 more times in his WWE career.
His fifth Intercontinental Title win came pretty late in his career, in the year 2020. He defeated AJ Styles to win the title on SmackDown just 10 days before his 43rd birthday. He held the belt for 37 days, before losing it to Sami Zayn at Clash of Champions 2020.
2 AJ Styles - 43 Years, 7 Days
AJ Styles was a popular name among wrestling fans long before he joined WWE. He eventually made his WWE debut in 2016 at the age of 38. Most wrestlers begin to lose their steam at this age, but it wasn't the case with Styles, and he got a big push.
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He won the WWE Championship twice, and the United States Title thrice by 2019. He won the Intercontinental Title too in 2020 at the age of 43, as he defeated Daniel Bryan in the finals of the tournament for the vacant title.
1 Ric Flair - 56 Years, 6 Months, 25 Days
Ric Flair topping this list is no surprise as he was a regular WWE performer until he was nearly 60. He first joined WWE in 1991, when he was a big wrestling star and went on to win the WWE Title twice. But, his run didn't last as he was gone from WWE in 1993.
He returned to WWE in 2001, when WCW was acquired by WWE. By then, he was too old to be put in main event stories, and thus he was mostly in the mid-card where he won the Intercontinental Title from Carlito in the year 2005 when he was 56 years old.
