All week, we here at Sports Al Dente will be previewing all 14 matches on the WrestleMania 34 super card. This is shaping up to be one of the biggest WrestleMania’s in recent history, as every title will be defended on the card for the first time since 2001. Back then, though, there were only six active titles in WWE. This year, the ‘Mania card features nine title matches.
One of those title matches is The Miz vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor in a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship. All three of these men are considered some of the top wrestlers in the world today, so having them all share the ring together at WrestleMania is sure to create some fireworks. Here’s a quick review of how we made it to this three-way dance.
Seth Rollins Photo Credit: Megan Elice Meadows – Under Creative Commons License
The Match
The Miz (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Championship.
How We Got Here
The Miz re-captured the IC title at the 25th anniversary of Raw, defeating Roman Reigns for the championship. It’s the eighth time Miz has held the IC gold, putting him one reign shy of Chris Jericho’s record nine IC title runs. Miz has held the title a combined 590 days, putting him second all-time in cumulative days holding the title.
Seth Rollins was left in no-man’s land after two of his tag team partners, Dean Ambrose and Jason Jordan, suffered injuries. With no clear path to WrestleMania, Rollins felt like he needed to prove to himself that he was still “the man.” He wanted to make Raw “Monday Night Rollins” again. After an unsuccessful attempt at becoming number one contender for the Universal Championship, Rollins turned his attention to Miz. The King Slayer and the A-lister have had a long feud dating back to October when the original Shield re-united.
Finn Balor also wanted in on the IC title picture. He and Miz also haven’t seen eye-to-eye in the past, as Balor has taken out the Miztourage multiple times over the past few months.
The History
These three men faced off in a triple threat match on Raw on May 1, 2017, to much praise from the WWE Universe. This match was to determine the number one contender for the IC title, which was being held by Ambrose at the time. The trio worked well together, leaving the fans wanting to see these three wrestle each other again. The trio has all feuded with each other as individuals in the past, giving tons of history to work with heading into this match.
Finn Balor speaking at an NXT event. Photo Credit: Courtney Rose, Under Creative Commons License
The Feud
Both Rollins and Balor both beat Miz on the February 26th episode of Raw. This led to general manager Kurt Angle announcing that both men would challenge The Miz for the IC Championship at WrestleMania. The trio has exchanged words with each other over the past few weeks, with MizTV getting physical on multiple occasions. Each man has had the upper hand in the previous weeks, making it anyone’s guess as to who will walk out of ‘Mania as IC champion.
Expectations
This is another highly anticipated match on the card. All three of these guys are excellent wrestlers, and Miz has played the arrogant heel so well. Rollins and Balor have done a great job teasing animosity between the two as well. This could potentially be the match of the night.
WrestleMania 34 takes place from The Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on April 8 with a special start time of 7 pm eastern/6 pm central. The show is streaming live on the WWE Network.