Seth Rollins Beats Elias to Retain Intercontinental Title at Money in the Bank

Seth Rollins defeated Elias at Money in the Bank on Sunday to retain the Intercontinental Championship.

Rollins not only had to dig deep in order to beat Elias, but also bent the rules on the way there.

Elias did well to work on Rollins' left leg, thus neutralizing some of his offense. Knowing he may need to get lucky to keep his title, Rollins countered a roll-up by Elias into another roll-up, using the tights to counter the move and keep Elias' shoulders down for the three-count:

The match was a great showcase for both wrestlers:

Rollins and Elias became fast rivals a few weeks ago on Raw because of an altercation between them after The Architect had a match with Jinder Mahal.

Prior to the bout, Rollins interrupted one of Elias' signature musical performances, and that didn't sit well with The Drifter.

After Rollins' match against Mahal, Elias hit him from behind with a guitar, forcing him to leave the stage in a neck brace.

Despite that, Rollins returned the following week and had his sights set on revenge. Elias threatened to hit him with a guitar once again, but Rollins smartly utilized a steel chair as an equalizer.

While Rollins appeared poised to lay into Elias with the chair after knocking the guitar out of his hands, Mahal made the save to set up a tag team match pitting Elias and Mahal against Rollins and Roman Reigns. Elias and Mahal prevailed due, in part, to interference from Sunil Singh.

Elias took advantage of the distraction by hitting Rollins with a DDT onto a steel chair to pick up the victory.

With Elias getting one over on Rollins two weeks in a row, he was granted an Intercontinental Championship match at Money in the Bank.

Since getting the call-up from NXT, Elias has been a great act capable of generating a ton of heel heat; however, he had largely been kept out of the title scene.

With the exception of an Intercontinental Championship match against Reigns on Raw, Sunday's bout was his first major title shot on the main roster.

Although Elias is still developing, especially from an in-ring perspective, it is difficult to argue against the notion that he deserved an IC title match against Rollins given how strong of a heel he has developed into.

Also, since Rollins is arguably the best in-ring worker on the entire roster, having a pay-per-view match against him was huge for Elias in terms of becoming a more complete performer.

Elias fell short in his bid to win the Intercontinental Championship, but after putting forth a good showing, he is poised to be an even bigger player on the red brand moving forward.

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