Intercontinental title match set for Christmas Day WWE SmackDown

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.