Why The Miz should retain the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 34

WrestleMania 31 saw WWE giving bona fide main eventers in John Cena and Daniel Bryan the United States and Intercontinental Championships respectively. This was done in an attempt to add some legitimacy to the mid-card title picture after years of limbo for both the titles. John Cena did that admirably, with his infamous open challenge, which has been copied since by Roman Reigns and Bobby Roode recently.

However, after losing the title to Alberto Del Rio in October of 2015, the title lost its prestige, and hasn’t come close to replicating what it achieved under The Face That Runs The Place.

The same can't be said about the Intercontinental title. Daniel Bryan’s impromptu retirement instantly hurt the prestige of the title. Ryback and Kevin Owens held the prestigious belt, but up until The Miz became a permanent fixture in the title picture, the relevance that the WWE wanted for the title wasn’t achieved.

Sadly, The Miz hasn’t been given the same respect that he deserves, as he has been used as Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman’s whipping boy for the majority of 2017. Even in the build-up to this WrestleMania, the focus has been on Balor and Rollins more than the IC Champion. This is probably because WWE feels that a Rollins-Balor match in the future could be more marketable, however, that doesn’t mean we overlook the current holder of the belt.

Like WWE, a case could be made for Balor or Rollins to pick up the win, but WWE needs to stick to the strongest personality in their entire roster. The Miz has made Raw unmissable, as his sly delivery of promos and incredibly entertaining skits with The Miztourage have delighted the fans.

Regrettably, he has been taking too many losses to the two men in the match with him, Braun Strowman and Reigns, but he is still a very believable contender to retain the belt. His character work has similarities to the role portrayed by Edge: a manipulative and opportunistic heel. He needs, in the same vein as Edge, to capitalize on the mistakes of his opponents.

If WWE really do want to push a Rollins-Balor rematch, they can do it without the belt. They could book it such that the two take each other out, just for The Miz to lurk around and pick up the win. This enables WWE to protect the Superstars, and most importantly not kill the momentum that The Miz has built with the belt.

The Miz needs a big WrestleMania win to continue his ascent up the card. Let him make the belt his and let him enjoy a lengthy run with it. Despite how over Rollins and Balor are, their moments cannot come at the expense of The Miz.

The Miz is easily the third biggest hand on Raw right now, behind Reigns and Strowman. Killing his momentum would not be a good idea for the company, the belt and the performer himself.