WWE Hall of Famer reveals how he convinced WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon to book his historic Championship reign that lasted over a year.
The Intercontinental Championship may not be as important today. There was once a time however, when it was seen almost on par with the WWE/F Championship. The title was carried by some of the biggest names in the industry such as Pedro Morales, Randy Savage,The Ultimate Warrior and many more.
Also read: WWE Hall of Famer reveals Vince McMahon asked him to make changes to his induction speech
Stone Cold Steve Austin, arguably WWE’s biggest star ever, even said that he considered the Intercontinental Championship to be as important as the world titles. In the history of the title however, no one has ever held it longer than the Honky Tonk Man in one single run and here’s how it all began.
WWE Hall of Famer Honky Tonk Man reveals how he convinced Vince McMahon to book historic Championship reign
The Honky Tonk Man recently appeared on the latest episode of Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw. They discussed his historic run with the Championship and The Honky Tonk man revealed that Vince McMahon was looking for someone to become the next champion after Ricky Steamboat asked for some time off.
The WWE Hall of Famer then convinced his boss that he was the perfect man for the job and assured that he would do well with it.
“I was just walking down the hallway and Hulk said, ‘What about this guy?’ Then Vince told me that Ricky (Steamboat) was wanting to go away and take some time off, and Butch (Reed) wasn’t there.
It was getting to the 11th hour and they needed to put the show together and he said, ‘I need to put the belt on somebody. I need somebody to run with this thing. It’s got to be in the towns. It can’t be sitting in somebody’s house.’ I said that if you give me that belt, I’ll run with it. That’s my deal with you.”
On June 13, 1987 , Honky defeated Ricky Steamboat to win the Intercontinental Championship. He was originally meant to be a transtitional champion and was supposed to drop the title to Butch Reed. However, Reed failed several drug tests forcing Vince to keep the title on Honky instead.
He went on to hold the title for a record 454 days and through his heel tactics, overcame the challenges from the likes of Steamboat, Billy Jack Haynes, Bruno Sammartino, and George “The Animal” Steele. He eventually lost the title to The Ultimate Warrior who beat him in mere 31 seconds! But by then The Honky Tonk Man had already written his name in the history books.
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