Extreme Rules 2017 Dean Ambrose v The Miz

Dean Ambrose retained the Intercontinental Title against The Miz after a disqualification ruling on the May 15 edition of Monday Night Raw. He won’t be so lucky if the same thing happens at WWE Extreme Rules.

Following the controversial conclusion to Raw’s title match, where Ambrose’s overly aggressive style got him disqualified, The Miz successfully petitioned Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to strip Ambrose of one of his advantages as champion in the rematch, meaning The Lunatic Fringe will lose the title if he gets disqualified when he and The A-Lister meet at the upcoming pay-per-view event.

The move represents a culmination of Miz’s tactics and a stark difference in the philosophies of the two multi-time Intercontinental Champions. For Ambrose, who defeated The Awesome One for the title in January and has defended it in a no-frills, old-school manner, it means he’ll have to pick an even more judicious strategy than he usually does when it comes to retaining the coveted championship he has come to love for its lineage. It also means that the intensity that has helped The Lunatic Fringe win many of his biggest matches must be tampered here, or it could end up losing him this one.

For Miz, who claimed to have revitalized the illustrious title after winning it by hook or by crook multiple times over the course of 2016, the stipulation is his latest and most cunning maneuver to dethrone The Lunatic Fringe, who he sees as unworthy of holding the championship that he views as a marker of his own accomplishments. Whether you love or hate that strategy, it’s difficult to argue that it hasn’t worked for The Miz. Nor is it difficult to imagine that it might just end up working again.