10 Best WWE Career-Threatening Matches Ever

The Miz and Dolph Ziggler are no strangers to each other, having feuded on-and-off over the past four years. Thus, when they rekindled their rivalry over the Intercontinental Championship in early September, fans weren't exactly enthralled by the idea of them contesting yet another series of matches.

But then Miz cut arguably the greatest promo of his career on Talking Smack and suddenly had a new lease on life. Every one of their segments from that point forward were fantastic, and their two matches at Backlash and on SmackDown were exceptional. Ziggler was unsuccessful in capturing the gold both times, and in order to get a third match with Miz, he had to put something of his own up for grabs: his career.

Ziggler has been "fired" several times throughout his tenure in WWE, but none of his previous departures had been on his terms. This time around, it was obvious that the title meant something to him, so much so that if he couldn't win it, nothing else mattered to him in WWE.

With so much at stake, the two had a remarkable match that deserved to close out the No Mercy pay-per-view that night. There were several points where it looked like Miz had the match won, especially when Maryse and The Spirit Squad interfered, but Ziggler still managed to overcome the odds and take home the title in one of the best bouts of the year so far.