Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho on Collision Course to Meet at WWE WrestleMania 32

WWE's Royal Rumble 2016 pay-per-view on Jan. 24 offered a fair few clues as to what the card at WrestleMania 32 will look like.

Bray Wyatt vs. Brock Lesnar looks like a solid booking from here, as does Kevin Owens against either AJ Styles or Sami Zayn, probably the former.

But one bout seemingly set up that may have escaped the attention of some concerns the Intercontinental Championship and its holder, Dean Ambrose. Ambrose was involved in arguably the match of the entire night at Royal Rumble, where he defeated Kevin Owens in a thrilling Last Man Standing bout to escape with the title still around his waist. 

With Owens heading in a different direction, there's a need for a new challenger to step up. That should be Chris Jericho, for more reasons than one.

First of all, why hasn't WWE addressed the bizarre confrontation between Jericho and Ambrose at Night of Champions last year? They teamed together alongside Roman Reigns against The Wyatt Family, and when they lost, Jericho seemingly turned heel by shrugging off Reigns and Ambrose and making his way to the back.

But instead of cementing that heel turn, Jericho disappeared from TV for a while and appeared again as a babyface to set up a push towards his Royal Rumble showing. WWE needs to put some clarity into the picture regarding that, and this would be the way to do it.

Could WWE have started that process? Dean eliminated him in Sunday's Royal Rumble match, which could be the motivation for Y2J to turn on Ambrose at some point, setting up a great feud.

Jericho's turning heel, like he teased at Night of Champions, would also make sense, given the creative direction of his character as a babyface. Things just aren't getting going for the Canadian at all, and yet more tension after his match with AJ Styles on Monday's Raw should hint that a full heel turn is on the horizon.

Jericho can work as a babyface, but when you're reduced to telling the crowd to chant, "Rooty, Booty, Tooty" at the most over tag team on the entire roster, it's a pretty big sign you need to turn heel.

Let Jericho interfere in Ambrose's match at Fastlane against someone else, and force Dean to retain the title via disqualification.

If you need even more storyline depth to throw into the mix, how about the fact that since June of 2009, Jericho has been seeking a record-extending 10th reign with the Intercontinental Championship?

As a guy coming to the back end of his career, his goal could be to get rid of Ambrose's mayhem and become the only guy to win the strap 10 times. It would, in his eyes at least, secure his legacy as the best in the world at what he does, as Jericho said himself.

It all seems to make sense: the heel turn, the background and the feud itself, which could be one of the most explosive of WrestleMania season.

Imagine Ambrose playing a similar role to the one he did last year when feuding with Seth Rollins, one in which he caused mayhem everywhere he went and ultimately tormented Jericho. 

It would be well worth watching and make for the kind of rivalry that suits WrestleMania.