10 Forgotten WWE Intercontinental Champions

6. JBL

When Bradshaw went from beer-drinking tag team midcarder to Wall Street-savvy main eventer, it completely transformed his career. 

The tall Texan was catapulted to the main event scene and, before too long, he had beaten Eddie Guerrero to win the WWE Title. 

More amazingly still, JBL was no mere transitional champion. He held the title for close to a year, before losing it to John Cena at WrestleMania 21, then had a decent run as United States Champion before retiring to the announce desk (for the first time) in May of '06. 

He came back in late 2007 for a second run that saw him feud with Cena, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels among others, but people tend to gloss over his 27-day Intercontinental Title run. 

JBL beat CM Punk to win it on the March 9, 2009 episode of Raw in one of the last matches of his career. He clearly only won it to then lose it to Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania XXV, in what was JBL's in-ring swansong. 

He could have actually been a really strong IC champ at this point in his career but, alas, he was totally broken down with injuries and ready to call it a day. 

Zero defenses, too, before he lost to Mysterio in just 21 seconds at the Showcase of the Immortals.

Now that's putting someone over on the way out.