WWE’s Ricochet Retains Intercontinental Championship against Jinder Mahal on SmackDown

They locked up instantly and Mahal slammed Ricochet down and applied a hold to ground him. Then Mahal hit him with some forearms and then slammed him down hard on his back before going for a cover, but he kicked out. They traded covers for a minute and then Ricochet hit a beautiful Shooting Star Press, but Mahal came back swinging. Ricochet bought himself enough space and time to head up to the top rope, but Shanky pulled Mahal out of the ring. Ricochet then sailed from the top and collided into both stars, and then he pushed Mahal into the ring.

He went up top again and hit the Shooting Star Press again and pinned Mahal, and that was enough for the 1,2,3. Ricochet retains and is still the Intercontinental Champion. It remains to be seen who will be Ricochet’s next opponent, but he’s already piling up an impressive number of victories.

According to a previous report, Ricochet is internally listed as the Number 2 babyface on SmackDown behind only Drew McIntyre, so hopefully, that means he’ll get a decent run as Intercontinental Champion. He’s currently the only person in WWE history to hold the NXT North American Title, the United States Title, and the Intercontinental Title, as his U.S. Title reign was unfortunately not very long.

His U.S. Title reign lasted only 21 days back in 2019, but his NXT North American Title run lasted quite a bit longer, clocking in at 161 days. Here’s hoping his Intercontinental Title run is closer to his NXT run, as if it was closer to 161, he would beat out Sami Zayn, Apollo Crews, Big E, Jeff Hardy, and AJ Styles. Shinsuke Nakamura’s run of 201 days is the only one that beats his North American Title run.

Where do you think Ricochet’s Intercontinental Championship run will rank? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!