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WrestleMania 36: 5 Reasons why Sami Zayn defeated Daniel Bryan to retain the Intercontinental Championship 

Sami Zayn is still the Intercontinental Champion.
Sami Zayn is still the Intercontinental Champion.

Night 1 of WrestleMania 36 has certainly been an interesting broadcast, emanating from the WWE Performance Center. There were some interesting booking decisions on the show, with one of them being Sami Zayn's retention of the Intercontinental Championship.

The 'Great Liberator' pinned Daniel Bryan to keep hold of his first singles title on the WWE main roster, after shenanigans involving Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura and Drew Gulak. Say what you will about the match, but Zayn did heel it up massively and came off as very obnoxious.

The Artist Collective will remain in a strong position on SmackDown thanks to this victory and it seems like WWE will have a plan for them and the IC title for the near future, as long as weekly programming continues after this weekend.

Here are five possible reasons why Sami Zayn defeated Daniel Bryan to retain the Intercontinental Championship on Night 1 of WrestleMania 36.


#5 He only recently won the title

Sami Zayn defeated Braun Strowman to win the Intercontinental title.
Sami Zayn defeated Braun Strowman to win the Intercontinental title.

This "reign of terror" that Sami Zayn is on began only four weeks ago. He won the Intercontinental Championship from Braun Strowman at Elimination Chamber, pinning him with major help from Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro in a 3-on-1 Handicap Match.

There is definitely a lot more that the 'Great Liberator' could do as the cowardly heel Intercontinental Champion, with hardly any of the surface being scratched. If booked well, Zayn's first main roster title reign could be one of the stronger ones in recent IC title history.

His act with Nakamura and Cesaro still has a lot of legs and as long as these three are allowed to implement their artistic creativity to this, The Artist Collective stable and storyline will be just fine.

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