6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (31 Jan)

2. New IC Champ

Braun Strowman Intercontinental Title
WWE.com

In 201 days as WWE Intercontinental Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura defended his belt on television exactly four times (and one of them was this loss to Braun Strowman). Naka beat Ali at Smackville on the Network in July 2019, bested The Miz at Clash Of Champions in September and lost by DQ to Roman Reigns on the 18 October episode of SmackDown.

Hardly the most memorable of stints then.

Braun Strowman should offer an improvement for the IC's fortunes. He's someone WWE love, and he does get a lot of TV time even when the company aren't using him to the best of his abilities. Strowman's fans won't care about Nakamura's misery either. They'll look at the near future and see that Braun has a guaranteed spot on 'Mania's main card to look forward to.

His first singles title in WWE will be a big deal personally as well, but it'll end up meaning little if WWE don't learn from the Shinsuke experience and book more championship defences on SmackDown and pay-per-views to come.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.