
WWE Intercontinental Championship is a professional wrestling title owned by WWE and exclusive to the Raw roster.
The title, originally called the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, was defended in the World Wrestling Federation. The first holder of the title was Pat Patterson, who captured it on September 1, 1979. The creation of the title resulted from Patterson winning the WWF North American Heavyweight
Championship against Ted DiBiase and unifying this title with the South American Heavyweight Championship in a mini tournament held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. However, there are no testimonies, neither filmed nor by spectators, regarding this match; in fact it is thought that the WWF named Patterson champion without a fight. From August 1988 the title was renamed simply WWF Intercontinental Championship.
From 2002 to 2009, the title was exclusive to Raw, and from 2009 to 2011, exclusive to SmackDown. Since August 29, 2011, with the end of the Brand Extension, the title has been defended on both Raw and SmackDown. On July 19, 2016, following the new roster split through the Draft, the title became exclusive to SmackDown as then-champion The Miz was moved to that roster.
On April 10, 2017, following the Shake-up, the title became exclusive to Raw as then-champion Dean Ambrose was moved to that roster. On April 16, 2019, following the Shake-up, the title became exclusive to SmackDown as champion Finn Bálor was moved to the blue roster. On May 8, 2023, the title moved to Raw after the champion Gunther was sent to that roster as a result of the Draft.