Dolph Ziggler Stuns Seth Rollins, Wins Intercontinental Title on WWE Raw

Dolph Ziggler shocked the world Monday night, defeating Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship on Raw.

A night after beating Elias at Money in the Bank, Rollins issued an open challenge to anybody in the Raw dressing room, to which Ziggler answered. 

The Showoff won the match after rolling up a distracted Rollins, whose attention had been diverted to Drew McIntyre.

Ziggler wasted little time rubbing the victory in Rollins' face, mimicking The Architect by swinging the intercontinental title around the ring:

Ziggler is a surprising choice to dethrone Rollins, because few WWE wrestlers better exemplify the idea of treading water more than him.

Even when Ziggler appeared to be heading in an interesting direction—such as when he voluntarily vacated the United States Championship days after winning it at Clash of Champions in December—the former world champion ultimately maintained his place firmly in WWE's midcard.

As a result, WWE risks once again making the Intercontinental Championship an afterthought after Rollins and The Miz in particular worked so hard to legitimize the belt. Ziggler's in-ring skills can only compensate so much for spending months in a series of forgettable feuds.

Perhaps this is what Ziggler needs to shake himself out of his current funk, and his ongoing dynamic with McIntyre is a reason for optimism. Giving one of the two a championship makes the pair look like more of a threat, and it's something that could drive a wedge between Ziggler and McIntyre down the line.

Rollins, meanwhile, has a little more freedom to chase the Universal Championship, so losing the intercontinental title isn't without a silver lining.