5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Aug 12)

3. All That IC Hype

WWE did a bang-up job of making the Intercontinental Title seem like the most important thing going on this week's show. Match aside (more on that later), the company produced a sterling video package and gave both champion and challenger some to-the-point promo time to help sell their clash.

Simple, but effective.

Michael Cole and Pat McAfee went above and beyond to make sure that fans tuning in knew what SmackDown's focal point was this week. Roman Reigns wasn't there anyway, so Gunther and Shin had a free pass to the top of the mountain, and they grabbed that with both hands.

You've got to appreciate this sort of presentation after years and years of so-so build for countless IC Champs. All those little touches, like showing off the rich history of the belt and capturing wide shots of both men staring a hole through one another, worked well.