If you are a fan of wrestling history, you probably know that Pat Patterson is the first-ever WWE Intercontinental Champion. The story that has been pushed by WWE is that Patterson won the title in a tournament on September 1st, 1979 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
In case you are wondering, the tournament was made up by WWE and it was all a work. It turns out that this tournament is also a big inside joke by Vince McMahon on Patterson.
On a recent episode of the ‘Something to Wrestle With Bruce Prichard’ podcast, it was revealed that the tournament being held in ‘Rio De Janeiro’ was a giant rib. Since Pat Patterson has a heavy French-Canadian accent, he struggles to pronounce: ‘De Janeiro’ properly.
Here is what Bruce Prichard said on the podcast:
“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” But it ticked Vince to get Pat to struggle with Rio De Janeiro.”
There you have it, one of the most prestigious titles in WWE history stems from an inside joke. Never change Vince McMahon, never change.
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