Intercontinental title match set for next week’s WWE SmackDown

The Intercontinental Championship will be on the line on next week’s WWE SmackDown. 

For the first time since June, Gunther will defend the Intercontinental title in a televised match, defending against Shinsuke Nakamura on the August 12 SmackDown episode. 

Nakamura defeated Ludwig Kaiser in a number one contender’s match on this week’s episode to earn the title shot on August 12. 

Gunther’s last televised defense came against Ricochet on the June 24 SmackDown episode. 

Since winning the title from Ricochet on the June 10 SmackDown, Gunther has made the one televised defense against Ricochet, plus 13 defenses on house shows. 

In his 13 house show defenses, Gunther defeated Ricochet in singles matches 11 times, won a triple threat against Nakamura and Ricochet once, and a triple threat against Madcap Moss and Ricochet one time. 

Nakamura has held the IC title on two previous occasions, most recently from August 2021 to February 2022. 

Next week’s SmackDown lineup so far: 

• WWE Intercontinental Championship: Gunther (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura