Big Title Match Set For Next Week’s SmackDown

The big start continues. We are now officially into the year 2021 and that means a much needed fresh start for a lot of people. With so many things having gone wrong in 2020, it is nice to have something new to look forward to. The same is true in wrestling, which has a lot of problems of its own to fix. One show is going to start the year off with an important match though and it is confirmed for next week.

The last SmackDown match of 2020 saw Big E. become the Intercontinental Champion for the second time in his career. This was an important milestone for him as it was his first title win after the New Day was officially split up in the 2020 WWE Draft. Big E. has long been expected to start a singles run and now it seems to be the case, though he is going to need an opponent. WWE has that covered.

During this week’s SmackDown, Big E. issued an open challenge for an Intercontinental Title shot the following week. Apollo Crews immediately accepted the challenge with the match being made officially. This came after Big E. and Crews teamed together to defeat Sami Zayn and King Corbin earlier in the night. The match will be the first title defense of Big E.’s reign.

Maybe they can be better enemies. Check out how the two of them worked together:

Big E & Apollo Crews vs. Sami Zayn & King Corbin: SmackDown, Jan. 1, 2021

Opinion: This makes as much sense as anything else and it is nice to see Big E. being a fighting champion so soon. The Royal Rumble seemed like a logical place for a first title defense so this is a rather welcome surprise. Crews is someone who is just enough of a threat to possibly give Big E. some trouble but it should be a rather nice first defense for the new champion.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!