Show
Time and location
DALLAS – In the same building he began his fifth reign as Intercontinental Champion the night after WrestleMania 32, The Miz extended reign No. 6 at WWE TLC by scaling the heights and defeating Dolph Ziggler in a steel-bending Ladder Match.
The American Airlines Center crowd was solidly behind The Showoff, who boldly risked his career to claim The A-Lister’s title at No Mercy back in October, but The Miz gleefully silenced the hopeful masses.
After wrapping Ziggler’s left leg around a ladder and wrenching The Showoff’s knee against the unforgiving steel, The Miz continued to punish the injured appendage, rendering Ziggler nearly incapable of making the fateful climb up the ladder and within reaching distance of the title.
Incapacitated after a modified Figure-Four Leglock through the ladder and unable to execute one of his patented superkicks on his egotistical foe, Ziggler fell victim to a Skull-Crushing Finale onto the ladder. The Showoff was briefly able to rally, leaving Miz dangling above the ring before sending him crashing to the canvas, but a subsequent slingshot powerbomb halted any momentum the challenger might have had.
Ultimately, both battered Superstars found themselves exchanging punishing punches while standing atop two ladders set up in the middle of the ring. In the end, though, it was just two strikes – low blows, in fact – that dropped Ziggler and allowed Miz to grab his title.
Having failed to capture the Intercontinental Championship at WWE TLC, Ziggler is unable to challenge The A-Lister for the prestigious workhorse title again. As for The Miz, he spitefully dedicated his WWE TLC victory to SmackDown LIVE General Manager Daniel Bryan, who proclaimed in the WWE TLC Kickoff that The Showoff would be a better Team Blue representative as Intercontinental Champion than its current bearer. Regardless, The Miz remains defiant as his Neverending Intercontinental Championship Reunion Tour rolls on.