After weeks of waiting, Gunther now knows who he will be defending his Intercontinental Championship against at Wrestlemania 39. To his dismay, WWE confirmed not one but challengers will be duking it out for the prestigious mid-card title at the Showcase of Immortals.
During last Friday’s episode of SmackDown, Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus vs. LA Knight vs. Karrion Kross vs. Xavier Woods in a fatal-5-way capacity, went down with the stipulation saying that the winner will get to face Gunther in an IC Title match at Wrestlemania 39. However, McIntyre and Sheamus pinned two separate superstars at the same time and the referees were unable to declare one definite winner.
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As a result, McIntyre vs. Sheamus in an Intercontinental Championship Qualifying Match capacity took place on last night’s Smackdown. It also ended in a DQ after Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci of Imperium attacked both competitors. Gunther was hoping to choose any one of these two as his next challenger at Wrestlemania 39.
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However, WWE Official Adam Pearce made it official that a Triple Threat match will go down at Wrestlemania 39 for the Intercontinental Championship where Gunther will defend against Sheamus and Drew McIntyre. Gunther certainly is the longest-reigning IC Champion of this century but this confirmed defense should be his toughest, to date.
Gunther won the championship all the way back in June by defeating Ricochet. In the latest, he defended the title against Ricochet as well as his current tag team partner Braun Strowman.
Previously, Gunther also defeated Sheamus at Clash at the Castle to successfully defend his title in a match of the year candidate. At Wrestlemania 39 though, Sheamus is determined enough to win this title at Wrestlemania 39 which he hadn’t won in his career timespan in order to become a Grand Slam Champion in WWE.
WWE Wrestlemania 39 PLE Match Card
WWE Wrestlemania 39 / Wrestlemania Hollywood Premium Live Event takes place on Saturday and Sunday, April 1 and 2 at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The updated match card for the event is given below,
– Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes
– United States Championship Match: Austin Theory (c) vs. John Cena
– Brock Lesnar vs. Omos
– Hell in a Cell Match: Edge vs. Finn Balor
– Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul
– SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Charlotte Flair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley
– Raw Women’s Championship Match: Bianca Belair (c) vs. Asuka
– Trish Stratus and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Lita & Becky Lynch vs. Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai & IYO SKY)
– Intercontinental Championship Match: Gunther (c) vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus
– Fatal-4-Way Tag Team Match from WWE Women’s Division: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD
– Fatal-4-Way Tag Team Match from WWE Men’s Division: TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD vs. TBD
– The Miz will be the Host of WrestleMania 39. Becky G and Jimmie Allen will perform “America The Beautiful” on Wrestlemania Saturday & Wrestlemania Sunday, respectively.
