Ryback Out of Battleground

The Big Guy the latest to fall under the IC Title's bad juju Photo Credit: WWE.com

The curse of the Intercontinental Championship has struck again, as Ryback has suffered a staph infection in his knee and will be out of Battleground. Unlike the last time Ryback had an injury scare, this is no work, as WWE.com has the report. While he will be able to recover in time to compete in a few weeks, the infection will keep him out immediately. The timing couldn't be any worse, not just because he had a defense of said cursed title against Big Show and Miz on Sunday, but now WWE will probably turn that into a singles match between Big Show and Miz. As well as they perform in certain aspects of the game, I'm not sure they have the kind of chemistry needed to carry a match, especially not without THE BIG GUY as the glue holding it together. Even then, it was a tenuous proposition.

Anyway, Ryback's misfortune is yet another in a line of misfortunes to befall holders of the title. Wade Barrett had to vacate the title last year after Jack Swagger did Jack Swagger things to his shoulder. Daniel Bryan had to vacate the title in the wake of his big win at WrestleMania XXXI after Sheamus gave him a career-threatening concussion to go along with his surgically repaired neck and other various injuries he's accumulated. And most insultingly, the title hasn't been booked well since Chris Jericho and [REDACTED] feuded over it regularly. At this point, WWE might be better off tossing it into the fires of Mount Doom and starting over again with something like a North American Championship or something.