Mind Versus Matter

On Monday I said it's possible WWE may be gearing up for a reinvigoration of the Intercontinental championship. RAW provided more evidence that this is the case. Damien Sandow defeated Dolph Ziggler to become the number one contender to the title.

That a former two time World Heavyweight champion and a man who just a month ago gave his mission in life as defeating John Cena were facing off over a secondary (technically tertiary) trinket was not, on the surface, a particularly great state of affairs. It looked like a comedown for both men. Ziggler, as a former WHC, should not be interested in a mid-card prize. He should be expending all his time and energy on regaining a world title.

On the other hand Sandow’s involvement is unquestionably great. No, it’s not the targeting of Cena we were promised but it’s showing that Sandow has focus and interest in a title. That’s what wrestlers are supposed to do most of the time. They’re supposed to want titles because it shows they’re amongst the elite in the sport and earns them more money (or at least it would if wrestling were real).

I'm not lying, he really does have a personality. He just seems to have lost it...

‘The Intellectual Saviour’ is a great opponent for the Big E Langston character. Langston demonstrated that he’s capable on the microphone in NXT but that’s not really come across since he got moved up to the main roster. Being excellent on the mic and well-suited to verbiage heavy segments himself Sandow strikes me as the sort of performer who will be able to help bring these skills out in Big E.

The best thing here is that even if Langston continues to fail at providing the good mic work he’s capable of Sandow will help mask it. Sandow can carry segments with boasts about the mind triumphing over the body, his plans to outwit the champ and so on. I don’t really need to go into the possibilities, do I? You should all be familiar enough with how good at condescension Sandow is to know that he’d ace any sort of promo segment with Langston without making his foe look worthless.

With the supposed Cena feud coming to nothing (to the surprise of no long-term WWE fan) a programme for the Intercontinental championship is about the best thing Sandow could hope for right now. It’s something meaningful for him to do, something that gives him the chance to show how valuable a member of the crew he can be. It’s good for Big E too. There are few people on the roster that will be able to have good matches, good segments, and possess the ability to make people care. If the Intercontinental championship is about to regain its rightful place as the number two title this is one of the best feuds WWE could kick off with.