The Intercontinental Championship will be on the line on this Friday’s Christmas Day edition of SmackDown.
It was announced during tonight’s TLC pay-per-view that Sami Zayn will defend his Intercontinental title against Big E on SmackDown this Friday. Big E pinned Zayn during an eight-man tag match on tonight’s TLC pre-show.
Big E, Daniel Bryan, Chad Gable & Otis defeated Zayn, Baron Corbin, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura in the pre-show tag match.
On SmackDown earlier this month, Zayn defeated Big E by countout in a non-title match. Zayn went under the ring during the match and Big E chased him there. Big E tried to hold on to Zayn’s leg so he couldn’t beat the count, but Zayn broke out and got back into the ring to get the countout win. Big E then ruined Zayn’s “first annual Sami Awards” on this past Friday’s SmackDown.
There was also a segment on TLC tonight where Zayn confronted Big E and accused him of leaking audio of Zayn berating a stagehand after the Sami Awards. The leaked audio was a parody of Tom Cruise’s recent leaked rant directed at “Mission Impossible 7” crew members over them not following COVID-19 protocols.
The Christmas Day episode of SmackDown is being taped in advance. It will air on Fox at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Friday.