Mustafa Ali Wins WWE Intercontinental Title Shot Against GUNTHER

It was said an "underdog" angle was on the cards to set up GUNTHER's next title challenger, and on "WWE Raw" Monday night, that certainly became the case.

In a battle royal to determine the No. 1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship, wrestlers such as Otis, Dolph Ziggler, Matt Riddle, former champion Ricochet, and even Bronson Reed filled the ring. But in the end, it was Mustafa Ali standing tall and outlasting them all after eliminating Ricochet and Reed to close out the match. Though, the match itself wasn't without some shenanigans. Just when Riddle was gaining steam, for instance, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci put a stop to it per GUNTHER's instructions.

Even still, Reed was cruising through the field before and after that moment. Until he and Ricochet realized they could work together to take him out, that is. Once the duo got him over the top rope, though, there was still the issue of knocking him off the apron. Ricochet took it upon himself to do so but was eventually caught in midair, only for Ali to connect with a top rope dropkick, sending Reed and Ricochet crashing to the floor.

That makes it three consecutive wins on "Raw" for Ali after picking up singles victories over Alpha Academy's Chad Gable and Otis in recent weeks. There have been a few near-misses over the course of his WWE career, yet throughout it all he's yet to capture championship gold with the promotion. Ali will look to change that by ending GUNTHER's historic reign at Night of Champions on May 27, a task that nobody has been able to achieve thus far.