the wwe intercontinental championship was first known as the world wrestling federation (wwf) intercontinental championship, until the wwe/wwf 2002 lawsuit. following the title's introduction in 1979, pat patterson became the inaugural champion on september 15. the title's creation came as a result of patterson defeating ted dibiase to win the wwf north american championship and defending the title in a fictional tournament held in rio de janeiro, brazil to be unified with a south american championship.