The IC Title has a long history of greatness in WWE. It has been held by many esteemed individuals who used that title as a stepping stone to achieve amazing things in the pro wrestling business.
But Bruce Prichard revealed on Something To Wrestle With how the story of Pat Patterson winning a tournament in Rio De Janeiro to become the first IC champion was not only a plot device, but a way to amuse Vince McMahon.
“Do you know why the tournament took place in Rio De Janeiro? Okay, this is a little tidbit of information that has never been made public before I don’t think. I don’t think it’s in [Pat] Patterson’s book. The tournament site where Pat Patterson won the intercontinental was Rio De Janeiro was because Vince [McMahon] was tickled at the way Pat could not say Rio De Janeiro with his accent”
“And Pat would just say ‘Rio'” Prichard explained. “But it ticked Vince to get Pat to struggle with Rio De Janeiro.”
If this is true that might explain why some people have to say words on WWE television that they can’t quite get right. It could be the reason why a guy with a pronounced lisp would be forced to say “Swagger” over and over again for instance. It’s just one more thing we can lock away in our “Vince McMahon Loves A Good Joke” compartment in our wrestling knowledge.
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Credit for the quotes in this article goes to Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard with a H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.