With Gunther rapidly approaching Honky Tonk Man’s record for longest single Intercontinental Title reign, I have been working for the last few weeks on a massive survey project (like the one I did with the WWE and Universal titles) on the championship,
Because of the sheer magnitude of the undertaking, I am going to be teasing out some of the different “eras” — I’ve just decided to do it in somewhat arbitrary number chunks, hence “The First 25” — before tie it all together next week (whether or not Gunther gets the record).
While I still have some illustrations to do, and some things to write, I did want to provide a show you folks what my research has wrought. This includes a new stat focused on decisive finishes which I’m calling “clean win percentage” — it is used as a way to counteract the difference in schedule between eras — that has the effect, when combined with the standard On-Show Percentage, to explain more precisely the manner in which someone was booked.
Of course, this adversely affects heels — Rick Rude has a “clean win percentage” of 23% and Savage won just 29% of his defenses “clean” — and I will be exploring the studio space with that a bit before next week.
But for now, discuss the following among yourselves (I guess?).
