WWE News: Kurt Angle sets huge Intercontinental Title match for first RAW of 2018 with a big stipulation

What's the story?

The WWE looks intent on kicking off the new year with a bang, not only do they have their 25th Anniversary Show, and the Royal Rumble in January but now Monday Night RAW General Manager has made a huge match for the first RAW of 2018.

On the first #Raw of 2018 @WWERomanReigns will defend his #ICTitle against @SamoaJoe; if Roman is DQ’ed, he’ll lose the match AND his title

— Kurt Angle (@RealKurtAngle) December 29, 2017

In case you didn't know...

Samoa Joe has been as vicious as ever since his return from injury and has recently set his sights on ending 'The Shield.' Two weeks ago he brutally attacked Dean Ambrose, storyline injuring his arm.

On last week's RAW, Roman Reigns attempted to get revenge for his fallen partner when he defended his Intercontinental Title against Samoa Joe in a match that ended when Reigns got himself disqualified and continued to attack Joe after the match.

The heart of the matter

The first RAW of 2018 will feature an Intercontinental Title rematch between 'The Big Dog' and Samoa Joe but this time Reigns will have to keep his desire for revenge in check because RAW General Manager Kurt Angle has added an interesting stipulation.

The title match will be a normal stipulation match, but if Roman Reigns gets himself disqualified not only will he lose the match but he will also lose his Intercontinental Title.

What's next?

With Ambrose out of action for a reported nine months and Seth Rollins now tag-team champions with Jason Jordan it looks like the Shield reunion has been well and truly derailed. However, I don't expect Reigns to lose his IC Title anytime soon, even with this new stipulation.

Author's take

This is an interesting development from Kurt Angle for many reasons, the General Manager making the odds harder for the babyface is a heel move, even though Angle is a good guy, but a disqualification title loss stipulation is usually one reserved for cowardly heels who keep intentionally DQ-ing themselves. There are a lot of unusual dynamics here so I'm excited to see where it goes.