WWE Elimination Chamber 2015 match card preview: Intercontinental Championship Chamber match

Intercontinental Championship Match

R-Truth vs. Sheamus vs. King Barrett vs. Ryback vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev (?)

For the second straight year, Daniel Bryan was forced to vacate a championship due to injury. Now that the Intercontinental Championship is up for grabs inside the destructive Elimination Chamber, which Superstar will emerge from the pack as the best of the mid-carders?

The Road to Elimination Chamber

The Intercontinental Championship is cursed. For most recent champions, this curse manifests itself in the form of too many losses on television, which makes the champion look like a chump.

Other champions have been forced to vacate the title due to injuries. The championship was vacated last June when Wade Barrett was Swagger'd on an episode of Smackdown, and here we are less than a year later with Daniel Bryan also forced to relinquish the championship due to health issues.

But the wrestlers in WWE must not believe in curses because they still want to fight like hell to win this poisoned prize. For the first time ever the Intercontinental Championship is on the line inside an Elimination Chamber. Here's what the calculus says about each man's probability of success at Elimination Chamber.

R-Truth - 1%

R-Truth is a jobber, but that doesn't mean he has a zero percent chance to win. You never know, maybe the other five guys all have flight troubles. Or maybe they all get injured during the match and an audible must be called. Perhaps WWE Creative has come up with a masterful plot that shows what happens when you trap R-Truth inside a chamber filled with plastic spiders. You never know

Rusev - 3%

Rusev would have been one of the favorites to win if he didn't end up in a wheelchair with an ankle injury. But now it seems highly unlikely that he will even compete at Elimination Chamber. And if he does manage to compete, WWE probably won't book a man with a severe ankle injury to win the championship.

Ryback - 9%

Ryback would make for a fresh champion because he has never won gold in WWE. But he just lost to Bray Wyatt a couple of weeks ago, and he is a notch below Dolph Ziggler on the babyface pecking order for this match. But most wrestling algorithms generally place someone of Ryback's build as one of the final entrants into the match, and so he is definitely a threat to be in the mix in the final moments of the match.

King Barrett - 14%

King Barrett should be renamed King Nothing. How can the King Of The Ring gimmick be taken seriously when the king loses matches to R-Truth? Barrett has also lost televised matches to Ryback and Dolph Ziggler in recent weeks. This actually bodes well for Barrett's chances, because it's a preview for what his life would be like as both the king and the IC champ. He would probably lose two matches each week on Raw if he held both accolades. That being said, Barrett is a 5-time champ. WWE just loves giving this guy meaningless runs with this title.

Dolph Ziggler - 21%

Ziggler has been heavily featured in the Lana storyline, and so that spotlight gives him an edge over most other competitors in the match. But now with Rusev potentially sidelined with an ankle injury, it's not clear if Lana will be a factor at all in this match. However, Dolph still has some lingering issues with Sheamus that can be emphasized during the fight.

Sheamus - 30%

WWE loves this guy, and they desperately need credible heels in upper card spots. And if WWE wants to add value to the championship again then it's probably best to keep the strap off Ziggler and Barrett, who have been IC champ way too many times without much impact.

Neville - 0%

Because Vince McMahon doesn't give a shit about what you want.

Other - 22%

There's a good chance that Rusev will be replaced by a mystery person. Bray Wyatt could make sense for that spot because he has issues with Ryback. But then again Big Show could be the replacement, because Big Show ruins everything. What about throwing Roman Reigns in there and having him squash all 5 guys? Or could Damien Sandow get his turn at mimicking the shows-stealing performance that Santino Marella gave inside the chamber back in 2012, when he filled in for a concussed Randy Orton? There is a lot of uncertainty here, but "Other" actually has a pretty decent shot at winning this thing.

What's at Stake?

Mid-card supremacy will be decided at Elimination Chamber. The superstar who survives the chamber will have to deal with the consequences of possessing the Intercontinental Championship. Is it a curse or is it a blessing? Only WWE Creative really knows the answer to that question.

Tune in to Elimination Chamber 2015 and keep it here on Cageside Seats to see who wins!