Apollo Crews has been successfully defending his WWE Intercontinental Championship for some time now. But his reign came to an end tonight, as “King” Shinsuke Nakamura shocked the champion by defeating him in a singles match to become the new champion.
In a competitive bout, Nakamura, both Crews and Nakamura benefitted from their ringside guests, Commander Azeez and Rick Boogs. But the two men were quickly thrown out of the match after Boogs began to play guitar to run interference. With a level playing field, the match became a true contest between two talented competitors.
Nakamura took control quickly, as he was able to survive multiple powerbombs from Crews. He also got his knees up when Crews went for a splash, and the challenger then reversed a slam attempt into an arm drag. He proceeded to hit Crews with a huge roundhouse kick that stunned him. Nakamura tried two different pins that failed, but he finally set Crews up for the Kinshasa, which dropped Crews for good and allowed the king to become the newest Intercontinental Champion.
#ANDNEWWWWWWW Intercontinental Champion, King @ShinsukeN! #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/2Ju5o3vNC2
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) August 14, 2021
