Sami Zayn Stripped Of WWE Intercontinental Title
A tournament to crown the next champion begins on this week's SmackDown.
Sami Zayn has been stripped of the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
The promotion made the announcement during last night's episode of WWE Backstage:-
The "unable to compete and defend the Intercontinental Championship" line refers to Zayn's decision not to work through the ongoing global health crisis. It's currently unclear when SmackDown's 'Great Liberator' will return, though WWE had previously given wrestlers the freedom to take this time off if they felt uncomfortable travelling and working through the ongoing situation.
A tournament to crown the next Intercontinental Champion will begin on this Friday's episode of SmackDown, though the brackets and participants are yet to be revealed.
Zayn has been inactive since WrestleMania 36, when he successfully defended the strap against Daniel Bryan, having won it in a three-on-one handicap match pitting him, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura against Braun Strowman at Elimination Chamber 2020. His reign ended at 65 days.
WWE's decision to remove the strap from a wrestler on an indefinite absence (it's entirely possible that Zayn may not return until a vaccine is developed) is understandable. What's curious, however, is that the promotion didn't do the same with Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin, whose division is in the process of crowning an Interim Champion.