Luke Harper Defeats Dolph Ziggler to Capture Intercontinental Championship

Team Authority struck a blow to Team Cena on the Nov. 17 edition of Raw ahead of Survivor Series on Sunday.

Luke Harper beat Dolph Ziggler to win the Intercontinental Championship:

The fix was in for Ziggler before the match. Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury attacked the now-former IC champ before Seth Rollins hammered Ziggler with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Ziggler put up a good fight until Harper connected with a vicious clothesline to take the title.

WWE's Kyle Edwards was a little disturbed at how fixated Harper was on his new prize:

"

Luke Harper is your new Intercontinental champion. The way he stares at the title is frightening. #TheLittleThings #RAW

— Kyle Edwards (@KyleEdwardsWWE) November 18, 2014"

Ziggler dropping the title so close to the pay-per-view adds a new wrinkle to the Survivor Series-style elimination match. Other than that, the Intercontinental Championship changing hands doesn't register much of an impact in the broader picture.

WWE has been cheapened by the IC and United States titles to the extent that the holders are almost irrelevant on a weekly basis. The Intercontinental Championship was once a stepping stone to more prestigious titles, but that's no longer the case.

Harper and The Wyatt Family dynamic will bring a little bit more intrigue to the Intercontinental Championship, so it will be interesting to see how his reign unfolds.

Now that he's no longer champion, Ziggler might be able to engage with a storyline that can further him as a character and move him up the company ladder. He's one of the more underutilized superstars not in NXT on WWE programming.