Daniel Bryan and Elias Move Ahead in Intercontinental Tournament
Daniel Bryan and Elias won their respective matches in the Intercontinental Championship tournament to move ahead to semifinals.
WWE stripped Sami Zayn off the IC title and is now holding a tournament for the vacated title. The bracket was revealed on SmackDown last night and had the matches with many ongoing feuds or storylines. King Baron Corbin faced Elias in the first match of the tournament and continued their rivalry which started before WrestleMania. The result was same as what was at WrestleMania, with Elias coming out on the winning side.
The other match was between the sparring partners- Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak. They put on a very technical match, most of which was spent on countering each other’s locks. Bryan got the win at the end as he put Gulak in a leg lock, for which he was setting up for throughout the match by working on Gulak’s leg.
The other two matches for the first round will take place next week. The first one will be another ongoing feud between Sheamus and Jeff Hardy while the other one is the age-old feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura. AJ Styles will be coming to SmackDown after Brand to Brand invite.
The line-up for 22 May SmackDown episode is as below:
- Otis & Mandy Rose vs Dolph Ziggler & Sonya Deville – Mixed Tag Team Match
- WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair – Champion vs Champion match
- Sheamus vs Jeff Hardy – Round 1 Match of Intercontinental Championship tournament
- AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura – Round 1 Match of Intercontinental Championship tournament