With a win this Sunday at TLC, Dolph Ziggler would become a six-time Intercontinental Champion.
This Sunday, at the TLC pay-per-view, The Miz will defend his Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder Match. We’ve seen this matchup before but according to SmackDown Live General Manager, Daniel Bryan, this will be the last time.
The last time we saw these two square off on pay-per-view was at No Mercy in October. This match was a Title vs Career Match, where if Ziggler lost he would have been forced to retire. Instead, he defeated Miz to capture the Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time.
Ziggler was set to defend the belt against Sami Zayn at Survivor Series. That was until it got announced he would defend that title in a rematch against The Miz on the 900th episode of SmackDown Live. The A-lister would go on to regain the title and become a six-time Intercontinental Champion after some help from his wife, Maryse.
Ziggler is no stranger to ladder matches, especially at the TLC event. In fact, he won the Intercontinental Champions in a Ladder Match against then champion Luke Harper in 2014. While Ziggler winning would start criticism that WWE is playing “hot potato” with the title, here’s why it should happen.
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3. Dolph Ziggler Would Help Develop Up and Coming Superstars
In the past, we’ve seen Ziggler as a face and as a heel and he pulled both off pretty well. His ability to work well in both roles would open up more feuds. This would help some of the younger and newer guys on the roster.
A heel Ziggler would help someone, like Apollo Crews, that needs a good storyline to develop their character. Ziggler could remain face and feud against one half a Breezango, whether that be Tyler Breeze or Fandango, to help further their momentum.
Regardless of who he faces next should he win, the Smackdown Live roster is too thin to have only half of the roster to feud with. Having a champion that can play both roles expands the number of possible feuds. The Miz had a brief run as a face in the past but I doubt that same act would work today. Turning Ziggler would be a much smoother transition as some crowds have been waiting for him to turn heel for some time now.
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2. It’s Time for Miz and Ziggler to Move on
While this feud has had some good matches and good moments, it’s time for both WWE Superstars to move on. Per Daniel Bryan, on the November 22 episode of Smackdown Live, this will be the last match between these two regardless of the outcome.
This feud began about 3 months ago, on the August 30 episode of SmackDown Live. The Miz came out to cut a promo following his heated exchange with GM Daniel Bryan on “Talking Smack” and was interrupted by Ziggler. Ziggler repeatedly called Miz a coward and eventually challenged him to a fight on the spot. Miz played along but eventually left Ziggler standing in the ring.
Ziggler should win Sunday night and have a good, long, well-deserved title run. The Miz has restored prestige to the Intercontinental Championship and, in my opinion, has outgrown the title itself.
WWE.com
1. The Miz Deserves to Be in the World Title Picture
This year has been a career year for The Miz. The year started off slow for the “Hollywood A-Lister” but picked up steam on the Road to WrestleMania. The Miz looked poised to win the Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder match at WrestleMania before Zack Ryder pushed him off the ladder and won the match.
The following night on Raw really got the year going for The Miz. He taunted Zack Ryder into defending the title and won after distraction from the returning Maryse. Following the match with Ryder, The Miz entered a program with Cesaro. Miz would once again win at Payback following a Maryse distraction. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were later added to feud that culminated in a Fatal 4-way at Extreme Rules. The Extreme Rules match was, without a doubt, a match of the year candidate.
Following this match, The Miz took a brief hiatus to film “The Marine 5: Battleground”. He retained his title against Darren Young at Battleground and against Apollo Crews at SummerSlam before entering the feud against Ziggler.
This has been a great year for The Miz, he has put on some of the best matches of his career and he deserves to be in the WWE World Championship Feud come 2017. Will The Miz retain his championship? Or will The Showoff steal the show yet again? Tune in at 8pm ET on Sunday on the WWE Network to find out.
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