WWE SmackDown: 5 Possible finishes for the Intercontinental Championship match between Big E and Apollo Crews

#4 Apollo Crews stuns the WWE Universe with a shocking win over Big E on SmackDown

Big E issues an open challenge and Apollo Crews immediately claims it. Apollo Crews was really good in the promo

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) January 2, 2021

It has been proven time and again that WWE and SmackDown love to pull off shocking championship victories that nobody sees coming. One of the prime examples of this was Jinder Mahal's WWE Championship win over Randy Orton at Backlash 2017.

Something like this could also take place on this week's SmackDown if Apollo Crews walks out as the new IC Champion by defeating Big E. The outcome is not completely out of the question as Crews is a former US Champion and has proved before what takes it to be a mid-card champion in the company.

Apollo Crews as US Champion

Apart from that, if SmackDown wants to project Big E as the contender for Roman Reigns' Universal Championship at WrestleMania, he can quickly recover from this loss by winning the Royal Rumble 2021. Yes, several fans might question a possible WrestleMania headliner losing to Apollo Crews, but in the long run, it would also open up the opportunity for Crews to step up into the main event scene.