Sami Zayn captures WWE Intercontinental Championship at SmackDown tapings

On February 11, Sami Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to become the WWE Intercontinental Champion during tapings for next week’s show. WWE tweeted about the moment late Friday evening.

“Breaking: New Champion crowed at Smackdown taping in New Orleans, Louisiana,” the promotion posted across social media.

Zayn and Nakamura participated in a segment on Friday evening, with Nakamura and Boogz being special guests during the show “InZayn.” The two individuals would go back and forth about their upcoming match, which was originally scheduled to air onFebruary 18 edition of the show. Zayn would get the upper hand after “shocking” Boogz and hitting Nakamura with the Helluva Kick in the corner.

WWE has not provided any video of the victory, or details about how it occurred. Instead, the promotion is pushing fans to tune in next week to see how things went down.

This is Zayn’s third run with the championship, with his most recent reign coming back in 2020 where he held the title for 86 days. Nakamura held the belt for 183 days total, but it was widely considered an inconsequential title run as he only defended the title twice, with the last time coming back in September against Apollo Crews. Nakamura and Zayn shared a special moment back in NXT, where Zayn was Nakamura’s first opponent at NXT TakeOver to welcome the former IWGP Champion to WWE.

This is an interesting move that comes as the company prepares to travel to Saudi Arabia. Zayn recently re-signed with the company, and as one of its most consistent performers, deserves to be booked in a stronger fashion It’s unfortunate that Nakamura’s run with the belt did not amount to much, as it seemed like the company mostly forgot about his during the time.

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