WWE Extreme Rules 2017: 5 Potential Swerves

5. Miz’s Plan Backfires – But Still Works

The Intercontinental Championship match at Extreme Rules has the least extreme stipulation possible. On a night where just about every other competitor has the chance to do whatever they want, Dean Ambrose is bound by the rules – or else he loses his championship.

Since The Miz is, for lack of a better term, a jerk, he’s bound to try and exploit this to his benefit. Two weeks ago, he attacked Ambrose’s opponent Elias Samson, giving the debuting superstar a victory by disqualification. This week, Miz basically came out and said that the same thing could happen again, and he’d become the new champion. Samson even alluded to helping Miz out in his pre-match song.

It’s one of the most obvious results on the card for Extreme Rules. Who doesn’t expect Samson (or even Maryse, since she’s always at ringside) to just attack Miz and get Ambrose disqualified?

In fact, it’s so obvious that a swerve away from that would be equally obvious. Literally everyone knows Miz would try to weasel his way into a seventh reign as Intercontinental Champion. So why wouldn’t Kurt Angle just restart the match after such a blatant attempt to steal a title?

Which brings me to the real swerve: It doesn’t matter, and Miz still leaves as champion. Angle could restart the match, and as Miz protests Ambrose tries to sneak up on him and hit the Dirty Deeds. But Miz – somehow – avoids the pinfall, maybe through a distraction from Samson/Maryse, and comes back with a victory for real this time.

It’s the kind of thing that can play into everything you expect – even the “expected unexpected” – and still turns it on its head for something different.