The Miz Defeats Zack Ryder to Become New WWE Intercontinental Champion on Raw

Zack Ryder was the WWE intercontinental champion about 24 hours ago; he is no longer the intercontinental champion.

The Miz now holds the gold after hitting the Skull-Crushing Finale on Ryder with the help of his wife, Maryse, and becoming a five-time intercontinental champion Monday night on Raw.

On Sunday at WrestleMania 32, Miz came within inches of winning the intercontinental belt in the seven-man ladder match. However, when Miz took too much time pandering to the crowd, Ryder had enough time to push him off the top of the ladder and grab the belt.

On Monday, Ryder talked about the picture he took with Scott Hall on Sunday and also thanked his dad for believing in him. Miz interrupted Ryder and baited him into putting the title on the line.

Near the end of the match, Ryder's father got involved and shoved Miz to the ground, per WWE Universe:

Maryse then made her WWE return—the former Divas champion was released from WWE in October 2011—and slapped Ryder's dad, providing enough of a distraction for Miz to get the three-count.

One woman wasn't happy to see Maryse back in this fashion:

Bleacher Report's Mike Chiari, however, thought it was a good short-term decision by WWE:

Ryder took to Twitter to comment on the loss: 

Ryder deserved to win the belt Sunday. He's been in the company for almost a decade and was worthy of having a WrestleMania moment. Monday's decision, however, made no sense. Miz hadn't held a championship in two years and has long been an afterthought on the WWE card. 

WWE announced before Monday's Fatal 4-Way main event that Ryder will invoke his rematch clause on SmackDown on Thursday, so Ryder may gain the belt back before the week is over. But WWE squandered a huge opportunity to make Ryder look like a quality champion heading into the next set of pay-per-views.

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