WWE Announces SmackDown World Cup
The SmackDown World Cup will kick off on WWE TV next week; first match announced?
WWE's SmackDown World Cup will begin on next week's episode.
The company announced this week that it'd run an eight-man tournament inspired by FIFA's upcoming football/soccer World Cup in Qatar. WWE's international-themed tourney will gift the winner a special trophy and make them the new number one contender for the Intercontinental Title.
That last sentence will be huge for some fans, because the promotion previously ran several cup concepts that meant pretty much nothing. Remember the gauntlet that took place for the 'Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy' at Super ShowDown 2020, for example? The Undertaker won that thing, but it was meaningless.
Hopefully, this SmackDown World Cup will launch another hot feud for reigning IC Champ GUNTHER on the backend.
WWE also announced that Shinsuke Nakamura will go one-on-one with Legado del Fantasma's Santos Escobar. It'd be a slight surprise if that bout wasn't included as one of the World Cup openers, especially when Shin is from Japan and Escobar from Mexico. That's an open goal even Diana Ross couldn't miss, people!
There's no official word on who will enter, or if Naka vs. Santos is even involved.