Bad News Barrett stripped of Intercontinental title due to injury; new champion crowned at Battleground 2014 in battle royal

It was announced on tonight's episode of Monday Night Raw that Bad News Barrett's shoulder injury, one he suffered at the hands of Jack Swagger last week at a SmackDown taping, is bad enough to need surgery. Because he is expected out for "a number of months", according to Michael Cole, he has been stripped of the Intercontinental title.

Sorry, Wade. And you were doing so well.

A new champion will be crowned at the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view (PPV) event scheduled for Sun., July 20, 2014, at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida.

In a battle royal.

WWE has gotten battle royal happy of late (this writer isn't complaining), and both Cesaro and Kofi Kingston were announced as early entrants. We'll be sure to keep you up to date as more participants are revealed over the coming weeks.

For complete results and the live blog from Raw tonight click here.