WWE taped the 2/18 edition of WWE SmackDown last night from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. WWE will be in Saudi Arabia on 2/19, leading to next week’s Smackdown being taped ahead of time.

A new Intercontinental Champion was crowned on the show as Sami Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the title.
WWE SmackDown 2/18 Spoilers:

  • Roman Reigns and Goldberg had a face-off segment. They never came to blows but just exchanged promos.
  • Ricochet defeated Sheamus.
  • Intercontinental Championship
  • Sami Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura (c) to win the title.
  • Ivar defeated Jimmy Uso
  • Drew McIntyre, Happy Corbin, and Madcap Moss had a promo segment.
  • A contract signing segment took place featuring Ronda Rousey, Naomi, Charlotte Flair, and Sonya Deville. A tag team match has been booked for the Elimination Chamber featuring Rousey teaming with Naomi and facing Flair and Deville.

Zayn’s victory over Nakamura was the 181st title change in the history of the Intercontinental title.

Zayn is now a 3x champion and ranks 39th out of 87 in terms of days spent with the title (152).

In just a few days he will pass Ric Flair and Curtis Axel on that list. Nakamura ranks in at #12 on that list with 383 days spent as champion.