The Intercontinental Champion is often seen as the workhorse of the company and second-best when it comes to holding down the fort, as it were when it comes to entertaining crowds when the WWE World Champion isn’t available.
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Dolph Ziggler’s battles with the Miz over the prestigious title in the past few months has been a Feud of the Year winner in the making. This is Ziggler’s, real name Nick Nemeth, fifth time with the championship and this past week on SmackDown! Live, the champion made a bold challenge.
“I’ve been fighting for this my entire life, hell, I even put my career on the line at No Mercy,” Ziggler spoke to the crowd. “We rallied together and I survived! Now on to Survivor Series…fantasy warfare becomes a reality. So listen up! Any Superstar on Monday Night Raw, you want to take this title from me I’d love to see you try!”
With the WWE Draft shifting Superstars all over different programs, it’ll be interesting to see who actually answers Ziggler’s call for his open challenge. Given the fact that there’s been some new blood called up from NXT as well, we’ve put together a list of Superstars that we’d love to see Ziggler take on at Survivor Series.
Seth Rollins
So this is a long shot for sure, but let’s take a look at this.
Seth has already been United States Champion as he beat John Cena last year and is a two-time WWE World Champion as well as former WWE Tag Team Champion. Currently, he’s not slated for a match at the event (although the final member of Team Raw hasn’t been filled just yet) a chance at the Intercontinental Championship could be what he needs to bounce back after his loss to Kevin Owens at Hell in A Cell.ย
WWE’s Architect is obsessed with being the best of the best and adding another title on his already impressive resume could cement his legacy as this generation’s finest. Ziggler and Rollins have been kept apart for some time as well and should they face each other at Survivor Series, the two men will surely bring the best out of one another.ย
Cedric Alexander
One of the top prospects from the Cruiserweight Classic series was undoubtedly Cedric Alexander. The former Ring of Honor star has made quite a splash in the budding Cruiserweight Division, giving a mainstream audience a taste of what he’s capable of.ย
While Alexander didn’t win the series or the new WWE Cruiserweight Championship, he’s made sure to stand out in the division bringing his in-ring expertise to the WWE Universe in a way they’ve never seen before. Should Alexander step up and accept the challenge from Ziggler, it would be the first time these two Superstars have faced one another.ย
Larger upsets have occurred in the past, especially involving the IC title, but here’s hoping that Alexander’s star gets a chance to shine a bit brighter at Survivor Series.ย
Sami Zayn
Since being eliminated by Braun Strowmanย for a slot on Team Raw at the Survivor Series, the Underdog from the Underground doesn’t have a space on the pay-per-view and that’s quite a shame.ย
Zayn has only held the NXT Championship for a brief moment two years ago and hasn’t added any other gold to his accomplishments thus year. With his rival Kevin Owens currently Raw’s top star and reigning WWE Universal Champion, Zayn has somewhat floundered since leaving NXT earlier this year. He’s sort of aย man without a feud now that Owens has been elevated and Zayn has been trying to regain some of thatย luster that made him an integral part of NXT.ย
We’d love to see Zayn get an IC title shot and stepping up his game and continue this streak of willingness to take just about anybody on. Dolph Ziggler seems like a good enough of a opponent if any.ย
Neville
There’s something to be said about Neville that initially was a sort of backhanded compliment that good ole JR used to use back in the day: unlimited potential. Now you can take that potential and either utilize it or keep it as what it is. Meaning keep moving forward or just run in place.ย
That being said, The Man That Gravity Forgot was an excellent NXT Champion (then known as Adrian Neville) but coming to the main roster, similar to Sami Zayn, hasn’t really gone where we thought he would be.ย
This is the perfect time for him to rise up and seize the Intercontinental Championship from Dolph Ziggler. Both Neville and Ziggler’s styles compliment one another and a match between the two, especially if it’s the opening contest, could really give the fans at the Air Canada Centre something to talk about for the rest of the show.ย
Samoa Joe
WWE is all about swerves and surprises to keep fans guessing and entranced into their dramatic and sometimes bizarre world. So while Joe isn’t on the Raw roster, that doesn’t mean he can’t be on Sunday.ย
See, the day before the Survivor Series is NXT TakeOver: Toronto where Joe will challenge NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura for the NXT Championship. Joe’s tenure as champion wasn’t exactly the longest, and the rivalry between the Samoan Submission Machine and the King of Strong Style is reaching its apex.ย
Should Nakamura retain, Raw could easily draft Joe and have him answer Ziggler’s challenge.ย I don’t see Ziggler losing the title after putting his career on the line last month, but if he were to lose, Samoa Joe’s star in the WWE will hit new heights for sure.ย
So what do you readers think? Is there somebody more qualified that we left out? Let us know in the comments below.ย
WWE’s Survivor Series airs November 20th only on the WWE Network.ย
