For months, Dolph Ziggler has been in hot pursuit of The Miz's Intercontinental Championship, falling short of regaining the gold on two separate occasions. He was even willing to put his career on the line in an attempt to contend for the championship one last time at No Mercy.
Despite having the deck stacked against him, Ziggler managed to reign supreme to a thunderous ovation from the crowd, clinching his fifth Intercontinental title in the process. But it is far from his first run with the title, however, having held it four times since 2010.
Each of his title triumphs have been memorable for different reasons with some reigns lasting longer than others. As his latest stint with the prestigious prize gets underway, let's look back at the five times he captured the belt and rank them from worst to best.
#5 Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz (Raw, Sept. 22, 2014)
Long before Dolph Ziggler and The Miz faced off in Title vs. Career matches and mixed it up with The Spirit Squad, they were feuding over the Intercontinental Championship back in the summer of 2014. They traded the title back and forth at SummerSlam and Night of Champions, where Miz ended up with the gold in his grasp.
Ziggler was granted his automatic rematch clause the next night on Raw, and it was assumed he would fall short of victory given Miz's fourth reign had just begun. In a shocking turn of events, Ziggler took the title by beating The Awesome One.
As good of a reign as he had with the belt in the two months that followed, the championship victory itself felt anticlimactic because he and Miz were essentially playing a game of hot potato with the once-prestigious prize. Fans were desensitised to the moment and it received a lukewarm reaction as a result.
#4 Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston (SmackDown, Aug. 6, 2010)
Upon his arrival on the SmackDown brand in mid-2009, Dolph Ziggler immediately set his sights on Rey Mysterio's Intercontinental Championship and challenged for the title on multiple occasions. Despite never once winning the title, he kept chasing the championship over the next year.
Throughout the summer of 2010, Ziggler beat Kingston a handful of times. Through the various victories he scored via disqualification and count-out, he ultimately earned himself a title shot on the August 6th edition of SmackDown.
With a little help from SmackDown general manager Vickie Guerrero, Ziggler defeated Kingston to pick up his premiere singles title in WWE. It was a well-deserved win that led to Ziggler holding the gold for a whopping five months.
#3 Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz (SummerSlam, Aug. 17, 2014)
After being abruptly dropped from the World Heavyweight Championship picture in mid-2013, Dolph Ziggler did next to nothing for the rest of the year and floundered for the better part of 2014 as well.
It wasn't until he received a shot at the strap in a Battle Royal at Battleground that he finally found something to sink his teeth into in the form of a feud with The Miz.
Just when it looked like Ziggler had the title won, Miz blindsided him from behind to take the title. The bleached-blonde Superstar beat him in a non-title match the next night on Raw, setting the stage for a one-on-one championship encounter at SummerSlam.
Per usual, Miz and Ziggler contested another awesome matchup that saw a surprising outcome: Ziggler knocking off the self-proclaimed A-lister to clinch his first Intercontinental title in over three years. Fans were ecstatic to see him return to relevance at long last, especially coming off a very well-wrestled match with Miz.
#2 Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper (TLC, Dec. 14, 2014)
Dolph Ziggler was The Authority's No. 1 enemy during his third reign as Intercontinental champion, and they were willing to do whatever it took to take the title from him. They were finally successful in the November 17, 2014, edition of Raw when they helped Luke Harper beat Ziggler and obtain the title.
In the following weeks, Ziggler vowed he would stop at nothing until he was Intercontinental champion again. Although their first championship clash ended on a count-out, a rematch was made official for the TLC pay-per-view, this time in a Ladder match.
Not only did the two absolutely destroy their bodies with ladders and go to great lengths to deliver a fantastic match, the event emanated from Ziggler's hometown of Cleveland. They very badly wanted to see him regain the gold, and they exploded with elation when he eventually did.
#1 Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz (No Mercy, Oct. 9, 2016)
Perhaps the only thing the aforementioned Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper match was missing was a good story, as it really wasn't much of a feud. However, the same can't be said be Ziggler's most recent rivalry with The Miz, which has been the best thing going in WWE for the past month.
Ziggler had been on a bit of a losing streak for months on end, and after losing to Miz in back-to-back championship matches, he became desperate. Thus, he challenged The Awesome One to one more match at No Mercy where if he failed to win the title, he would hang up his boots for good.
Miz, his wife Maryse, and even The Spirit Squad did all they could to ensure he wouldn't win the title, but in the end, their efforts were unsuccessful. In what was an emotional moment, Ziggler came out on top after one of the best bouts of the year, let alone his entire career.
