Why The Miz Is Ideal Choice to Restore Prestige to IC Title After Raw 25 Win

The Miz defeated Roman Reigns on the 25th anniversary edition of Raw on Monday night to become the intercontinental champion for the eighth time in his illustrious career.

The Miz deleivered two skull-crashing finales on his way to landing the pin versus Reigns:

The Miz used underhanded tactics in order to pick up the victory. He removed the pad from the middle turnbuckle while neither Reigns nor the referee were looking. Reigns' head hit the exposed turnbuckle as he was attempting to spear The Miz in the corner.

That allowed Miz to hit his second skull-crushing finale.

While winning the IC title is old hat for The Miz at this point, there is little doubt that putting the belt back around his waist is the right move in terms of making the championship mean something again.

Reigns beat Miz for the title several weeks ago due primarily to the fact that The Miz was taking a hiatus from Raw to film a movie.

It looked like a smart move on paper since Reigns is among WWE's top stars, but since the prevailing thought is that he's trending toward challenging for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania, the Intercontinental Championship was essentially overshadowed.

Reigns was also never booked to discuss the importance of the Intercontinental Championship, which is in stark contrast to Miz during his recent runs with the strap.

Upon returning to Raw from his movie hiatus, The Miz immediately made it clear what his No. 1 priority was.

Miz could have talked about the Royal Rumble match or going after the Universal Championship, but he instead waxed poetic about the Intercontinental Championship and how his goal for 2018 is to become the longest-reigning IC titleholder in WWE history.

There is no question that The Miz is deserving of a run with the Universal Championship due to how he has excelled as a heel and his remarkable promo skills, but maintaining the prestige of the midcard titles is an important role in WWE.

When used properly, the midcard titles can act as a gateway to go from the midcard to the main event, but it can only work if one or more Superstars put in the necessary work to make sure those titles are meaningful.

The Miz has done that in spades with the Intercontinental Championship over the past two years especially.

It was most apparent on SmackDown when The Miz was feuding with Dolph Ziggler over the IC title and appearing regularly on Talking Smack for no reason other than to make mention of how the Intercontinental Championship was the most important thing in WWE because he held it.

Reigns didn't do that, but it isn't simply a problem with The Big Dog, as no Superstar has truly placed the type of focus on the IC title that Miz has in many years.

With Reigns free of the Intercontinental Championship, he can now move back up the card and likely nestle himself in the main event scene at WrestleMania for the fourth consecutive year.

The Miz will be further down the card, but regardless of who he faces or when he goes out at The Showcase of Immortals, the match will be important because of the clear respect The A-Lister has for the IC title.

The time may come for The Miz to chase an even bigger prize at some point in 2018, but the fact that he is back in possession of the Intercontinental Championship likely means the title will mean even more the next time a challenger takes it from him.

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