Night Of Champions 2012 » Matches » The Miz vs Cody Rhodes vs Rey Mysterio vs SinCara (IC Championship - Fatal 4 Way)

In every match, there is a story; a history that follows the two competitors between the ropes and carries them throughout any given contest. The Fatal 4-Way Match for the Intercontinental Championship at Night of Champions is no different.

For The Miz, it is, as always, about himself: about forcing his way into the limelight and exerting his brand over WWE, same as it was when he held the WWE Title for five months. And although Miz is the Intercontinental Champion now, his goals are still the same: to take a title known for its classic prestige and usher it into an era of AAAAWWWESOOOMEEE-ness and to transform it into an extension of himself no matter what Superstar stands in his way. The three men who The Awesome One will face have all wronged him or, worse, one-upped him in recent weeks, which means Miz has a major ax to grind. With the Intercontinental Title in hand, he has an opportunity to build himself back up to the mountaintop and rest assured, there is no tactic he won’t exploit to see that his dream is realized once again.

For Rey Mysterio, Night of Champions is about retribution. The Master of the 619 challenged The Miz for his title at SummerSlam, seeking his first championship since his return following a year off due to injury. What he got instead was another injury: a concussion sustained at the hands of a ravenous Miz in the process of fending off the masked man’s efforts. The injury put him out of commission for a week, threatening to cut his comeback short before it even began. Recent weeks teaming with Sin Cara, however, have shown that he’s shaken off the hurt. Mysterio is healthy, the playing field is evened once again and the Intercontinental Championship — not to mention the man who wears it — rests squarely in the sights of The Ultimate Underdog.

For Sin Cara, this match is about validation. Night of Champions will be one of the first times The International Sensation challenges for a championship in WWE, and expectations for the mystifying luchador are, as always, high. Sin Cara has been on his biggest roll of late, racking up victories over Cody Rhodes, The Miz, and managing to save himself from the same ignominious fate as his doppelganger last year by retaining his signature mask. Victory at Night of Champions will not come with the greatest of ease, but considering Rhodes’ preoccupation with unmasking the luchadores, and Mysterio and Miz focusing on each other, the time is ripe for The Mexican Icon to do what he has always done best: defy the odds, defy expectations, defy gravity and finally hoist championship gold.

As for Cody Rhodes? Well. For him, this match might have been about the Intercontinental Title at one time. It might have been about cementing his legacy as the greatest Rhodes in the family tree and establishing himself as the premier young lion in the jungle of WWE. But the prominence of masked men like Mysterio and Sin Cara has awoken an old obsession within Rhodes: the desire to expose the ugliness he believes rests within us all. He has not sought wins so much as humiliation these last few weeks, attempting to pry the masks of both Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara. These attacks have been to the detriment of his win-loss record, but Rhodes has grown more feral as the weeks pass. On Raw, his rage reached a fever pitch when he defeated Mysterio and felled The Miz with Cross Rhodes before grabbing The Awesome One’s title and screaming that it was his “baby.” In the right scenario, with enough factors in play and with just the right element of surprise in his back pocket, Rhodes could, finally, expose his enemies’ faces to the world at last … and maybe, just maybe, reclaim that which was once precious to him in the process.

Whose obsession, drive and determination will win out in the Fatal 4-Way? Tune in this Sunday to Night of Champions at 8/7 CT to find out, only on pay-per-view