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| photo courtesy: wwe.com |
When Bad News Barrett defeated Big E to capture the Intercontinental Championship at Extreme Rules in May, it appeared as though the company was serious about reestablishing the title as an important step toward the achieving heavyweight title success at the next level of competition.
Unfortunately, questionable booking halted some of the momentum, while an unfortunate injury forced Barrett to vacate the title. He will be in Tampa to hand it over to the winner of Sunday's Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal.
WWE finds itself in the position to again reset and reestablish the title as more than just a prop for a talented midcard talent to carry around.
This weekend's Battle Royal features several former WWE and World Heavyweight champions, all of whom would make an excellent choice to carry the title.
Current United States champion Sheamus would make history by becoming the first Superstar to simultaneously hold the U.S. and Intercontinental titles since Edge did it back in November 2001.
For Dolph Ziggler, a win would mark the second time he has carried the coveted title.
Alberto Del Rio, for all of his success in WWE, has never held the Intercontinental Championship. Winning it Sunday night could ignite a renewed push for a Superstar that, just one year ago, was considered one of the company's MVPs.
Rob Van Dam has held the title on six different occasions, and while he most certainly does not need a seventh, it would give him something to do rather than floating aimlessly around the midcard.
Superstars such as Cesaro, Kofi Kingston and Ryback are always threats, while newcomer Bo Dallas is one to watch.
Prediction: The Miz
The former WWE champion recently made his return to WWE after completing the filming of the latest WWE Studios picture The Marine 4, and he has adopted a new Hollywood movie-star gimmick.
The element in which he is desperate to protect his "moneymaker" face will only help him garner heat the more it gets over with the audience, while his ring work, which has been fairly strong since returning, will only endear him to some of his harsh critics.
With a budding rivalry against U.S. champion Sheamus, The Miz winning the Intercontinental Championship could potentially set up a title unification bout as early as SummerSlam.
source: bleacherreport.com
