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After weeks of grueling competition and some drama, the Intercontinental Championship Tournament comes to a close this week. AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan will go head to head on this week's episode of SmackDown to determine the new Intercontinental Champion. The Championship was vacated a month back due to Sami Zayn's absence amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan at NASCAR
Last evening, Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles were the Grand Marshals of NASCAR's 2020 Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 race. The two appeared via satellite to kickstart the race, but the duo engaged in a heated argument instead. The clip has been embedded below.
The video started with Daniel Bryan introducing the race, but his introduction was cut short by AJ Styles. The two quarreled over who the Grand Martial for the event was before both of them simultaneously told the drivers to start their engines.
WWE did this to hype the duo's upcoming match on SmackDown for the Intercontinental Championship. To reach the finals, Daniel Bryan had to beat Drew Gulak in his first round and Sheamus in the second. Bryan's opponent in the finals, AJ Styles beat Shinsuke Nakamura in the first round but was projected into the finals when Elias, his semi-final opponent, was involved in a hit and run incident two weeks back.
It has been reported that WWE has pre-taped this match in advance and that it is an incredible match. The Leader Of The Yes Movement has been Intercontinental Champion once earlier, winning the coveted Championship at WrestleMania 31. However, his reign was short-lived as he had to relinquish the Championship due to injury in under two months.
The Phenomenal One, AJ Styles has won the WWE Championship and the United States Championship in the WWE but hasn't held the prestigious Intercontinental Championship yet. The last time Styles and Bryan squared off in a WWE ring was in 2018. Daniel Bryan beat AJ Styles for the WWE Championship on an episode of SmackDown, ending Styles' 371-day reign. Styles was unable to recapture the Championship in two attempts later.
