WWE made waves during Friday Night SmackDown this week when Sami Zayn presented Shinsuke Nakamura with a new version of the Intercontinental Championship. Fans raved about the title’s new look, but some began to question the motivation behind moving the title away from its classic design that was rooted in WWF’s original golden era of the 1980s. The title saw its fair share of changes over the years, but back in 2011 Cody Rhodes revived title’s classic look, complete with the white strap and layered gold plates. Since Rhodes is now an executive vice president and star wrestler for AEW, some fans on Twitter started speculating that WWE changed the design in order to severe any ties the belt had to Rhodes.
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Rhodes was quick to shoot down the conspiracy theory on Saturday.
Unlikely. Probably just time for a change. All good things and such…
I’m sure this one will have great moments/wrestlers attached to it just like the older one. https://t.co/BR4FrG8NW3
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) November 23, 2019
The former WWE Superstar held the title twice for a combined 257 days.
Since Rhodes’ last reign in 2012, the title has been most synonymous with The Miz, who has held the title a combined eight times for 599 days
Nakamura, who last defended his title in mid-October against Roman Reigns, will compete in a non-title triple threat match on Sunday night at Survivor Series.
Check out the latest card for Survivor Series in the list below.
- WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio (No Holds Barred)
- WWE Universal Championship: Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan
- NXT Championship: Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne
- Men’s Survivor Series elimination match: Team Raw (Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Ricochet) vs. Team SmackDown (Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, King Corbin, Mustafa Ali, Shorty G) vs. Team NXT (TBA)
- Women’s Survivor Series elimination match: Team Raw (Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Sarah Logan) vs. Team NXT (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai, Toni Storm) vs. Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans and Nikki Cross)
- Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler
- United States Champion AJ Styles vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs. NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong
- Raw Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish
