It’s been nearly two months since the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View, Ryback’s first, and to date, only official defence of the Intercontinental Championship, having been taken out with Staff infection a number of weeks later.
We haven’t seen or heard from Ryback since, but instead have had to watch The Miz and The Big Show carry they’re three-way feud for the title, via one-on-one encounters with the occasional name-drop to remind people that the title, and the champion himself, still exist.
The question I have though, is when do we draw the line?
Daniel Bryan won the very same championship title back at WrestleMania, and was taken out with a concussion on the European tour merely two weeks later, probably less. He missed the following Extreme Rules PPV, where he had originally been scheduled to face Bad News Barrett (which could arguably have saved him from the horrible mess he’s in now), and he relinquished the title shortly thereafter.
Keep in mind that, while details were sketchy at first, Daniel Bryan himself has confirmed that his doctor, the same doctor that was used in the Super Bowl, has cleared him for competition with the amazing revelation that Bryan’s brain is somehow in better condition than somebody who’d never received a concussion in their life!
Ryback, on the other hand, has tweeted photos of his infected leg, which had seemingly doubled in size compared to his other one, and it’s unknown whether or not he’ll be able to defend the title at SummerSlam due to his injury.
I’m just wondering why WWE haven’t pulled the trigger and had him forfeit the title yet. Okay, the injury may not keep him on the shelf for another month, but at this stage people will be over the whole ‘Ryback as champ’ thing. When Bryan won at ‘Mania, it looked like the title was going to be revitalised, and that the mid-card was finally going to mean something again, but that was derailed due to Bryan’s injury.
To keep that ball rolling, they gave the title to Ryback at Elimination Chamber so as to award it to yet another first-time winner, and I understand that. I may be quite vocal about how I dislike Ryback, but I get why he, of all the people in that Chamber, walked away with the strap. That was, at least, until they threw him in a meaningless rivalry with Big Show and Miz, two guys who aren’t exactly going to pose a serious threat to the title picture, or at least weren’t at the time.
There seemed to be an immediate lack of direction. I would have accepted a rivalry with Sheamus for the title, which would have actually been interesting to watch. Instead we got Big Show, who let’s face it, probably won’t be holding another title anytime soon, and The Miz, and while I’m a fan, it’s clear from the get-go that Miz isn’t going to fit into the picture that WWE is trying to paint with their last two Intercontinental Champions.
My suggestion would be to strip Ryback of the title, especially if he can’t compete at SummerSlam, hold an open challenge or a Battle Royal at the event in which a name like Rusev captures the title. Then have him look strong until Ryback makes his triumphant return, challenges the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ in an effort to win back what he believes is rightfully his, and then decide at that point who should be the rightful titleholder. I would personally go with Rusev, as it would add more intrigue to his feud with Dolph Ziggler, but it’s obviously not up to me.
Then, no matter who wins, Daniel Bryan can eventually make his return and challenge for the Intercontinental Championship as well. It would be great to see him in the main event picture, but for now, I think it would be cool to see him give the IC Title the breath of fresh air that John Cena brought the United States Championship. Then maybe the likes of Ryback will benefit from a title win, instead of earning a vacant title, which seems to be cursed at this stage.
Either way, there are two mid-card titles in the WWE right now, and regardless of Ryback’s injury, the United States Title is looking like the World Heavyweight Championship in comparison to the Intercontinental Title. This needs to start changing, and SummerSlam seems like the perfect place to either crown a new champion, or have the current one return and prove himself worthy of still carrying the once prestigious title belt.
I’ll leave it there for today, folks. I will be away all next weekend, as a few of my mates and I are taking a weekend trip to the countryside, but I will try to get next Sunday’s ‘Under the Spotlight’ done in time to schedule it before I depart. I’ll also be covering this week’s ‘Fantasy Fight Friday’, so do us and yourself a favour and stay tuned for that.
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Thanks for reading, everyone. Have a great week!
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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