Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz: WWE IC Title Match Winner and Reaction

Just five days before he was scheduled to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Raw's Sami Zayn at Survivor Series, Dolph Ziggler dropped the title to The Miz on Tuesday night on SmackDown Live.

WWE shared how the match ended: 

Bleacher Report's Kevin Berge laid out a scenario where this feud would continue into next month:

Zayn was quick to comment on the match result:

Ziggler and Miz are engaged in a long-running rivalry that saw The Showoff fall short of winning the IC title on several occasions until he finally won it at No Mercy with his career on the line.

It wasn't long before Ziggler offered The Miz a rematch, but when the A-Lister declined to fight under Ziggler's conditions, he instead laid down an open challenge to any Raw Superstar for Survivor Series.

SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan allowed it despite Miz's pleas to give him the match due to his perception that The Awesome One is cowardly and unwilling to back up his words.

According to WWE Universe, Bryan felt just the opposite was true of Ziggler:

While Bryan has never hidden his disdain for The Miz, he did agree to a compromise by giving Miz his rematch for the Intercontinental Championship on the go-home edition of SmackDown prior to Survivor Series.

That created an intriguing situation since a potential Miz win could have changed the Survivor Series match to Miz vs. Zayn or perhaps even a Triple Threat with Ziggler in the mix as well.

Although Miz got the rematch he wanted, he and Maryse were still furious with Bryan, and they made their feelings known on Talking Smack.

Bryan then suggested that if Miz were to fall short of regaining the Intercontinental Championship, he would consider offering the former WWE champion up in a trade to Raw for a Superstar such as Zayn or Cesaro, per WWE's official Twitter account:

The Miz has had issues with Bryan and the entire SmackDown brand dating back to the draft when the GM made it clear he selected Miz only because he was the holder of the Intercontinental Championship at the time.

They have been at odds ever since, and Miz has attempted to renegotiate his contract on a number of different occasions.

He has been a thorn in Bryan's side from day one, but Tuesday's victory means Bryan may be forced to continue dealing with The Miz for the foreseeable future.

Survivor Series could go a long way toward determining how much longer Miz is part of the blue brand, as conventional wisdom suggests and Triple Threat involving him, Ziggler and Zayn is the best solution to the quandary that Miz's victory created.

If that ends up being the case, then the talented trio has a golden opportunity to put on one of the best matches of 2016 and to continue building the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship.

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