Intercontinental title match announced for WWE SmackDown
In the pre-show match of WWE TLC 2020, Big E, Otis, Chad Gable, and Daniel Bryan took on Sami Zayn, King Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Cesaro. In a chaotic match, Big E managed to pin current Intercontintal Champion Sami Zayn to secure the win for the babyface team.
The pair have been battling back and forth on recent episodes of SmackDown and continued to do so backstage during TLC in a war of words.
Following on from this, WWE announced during TLC that the Intercontinental Championship will be contested on the Christmas edition of SmackDown this Friday. Big E and current champion Sami Zayn will go head-to-head.
Sami Zayn is currently in his second reign as WWE Intercontinental Champion
Sami Zayn won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time at Elimination Chamber earlier this year. He pinned Braun Strowman in a three-on-one handicap match to win the title and later defeated Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 36 to retain.
Shortly after this, he was stripped of the championship after not wanting to work shows during the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon his return in August, he insisted that he was still the champion, and came back with his title, challenging then-champion Jeff Hardy.
Zayn then won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the second time in 2020 by defeating AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy in a Triple Threat ladder match at Clash of Champions. He also defended the belt against Apollo Crews on SmackDown in November.