On the latest episode of Smackdown, WWE kicked off the tournament to crown the new Intercontinental Champion. Elias defeated King Corbin in the first round of the tournament. Daniel Bryan also defeated Drew Gulak in the first round of the tournament. I wanted to share my speculation on how I think the rest of the tournament will go.
— Sheamus vs Jeff Hardy (First Round): I think that Jeff Hardy is going to win this match to advance in the tournament. After it is over, I think that Sheamus will deliver a vicious beating to Jeff. This will keep the feud going between Sheamus and Jeff. It will also generate some heel heat for Sheamus. This would set up Jeff Hardy vs Daniel Bryan in the next round.
— AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura (First Round): I think that AJ Styles is going to win this match to advance. I feel like WWE wouldn’t bring over AJ Styles from RAW for him to lose in the first round. I see him beating Nakamura in a fun match. This would set up Elias vs AJ Styles in the next round.
— Jeff Hardy vs Daniel Bryan (Semi-Finals): After Jeff Hardy’s beatdown from Sheamus in the match before, he will be coming into this match at less than 100%. I think that Jeff will put up a good fight but he will ultimately be defeated by Daniel. This means that Daniel will advance to the finals of the tournament.
— AJ Styles vs Elias (Semi-Finals): I see King Corbin taking out Elias during this match. This will allow AJ Styles to pick up the victory and advance to the finals.
— AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan (Final): My guess is that we are going to build towards AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan as the final match. This would be a really good match and one that fans would be excited to see. I will go with Daniel Bryan beating AJ Styles to become the new Intercontinental Champion. I don’t think that it makes sense for Styles to win this belt since he is on the RAW roster.
That is how I see it going. What about you? Let me know your prediction in the comment section below.
On a related note, check out my full predictions for the Backlash PPV.