Intercontinental Championship match set for No Way Out

On tonight’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown!, it was announced that current Intercontinental Champion Christian will be defending his championship against former champion Cody Rhodes at No Way Out. It was made official during what was supposed to be an episode of “The Peep Show”. However, before Christian could even come out and start the segment, Rhodes charged the ring, shoved the technician that was preparing the set, then proceeded to destroy the set piece by piece until Christian came out.

This will be a rematch from Over the Limit last month, which saw Christian defeat Rhodes for the title. At the beginning of the OTL pay-per-view, Christian made a surprise return in the “People Power” battle royal, last eliminating The Miz in order to earn a shot at either the IC or United States Championship later in the night. Christian, who had been out most of the year due to a severe foot injury, teased choosing to face US Champion Santino Marella earlier in the night, but changed his mind after overhearing Rhodes say some less than pleasant words about it the returning “Captain Charisma”.

Speaking of Christian, it appears we may be seeing him on pay-per-view twice this month. It has been confirmed by TNA President Dixie Carter that Christian will be appearing at this Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view in Dallas, TX. At this time, it is unknown why exactly Christian will be there, but it likely stems back from WWE‘s Hall of Fame ceremony this year. In this year’s class, Ric Flair was inducted for a second time with The Four Horsemen (himself, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham and J.J. Dillon), despite being under contract to TNA, WWE’s nearest competitor. Carter agreed to let Flair make the appearance, not only to to look good, but to get something out of the deal as well. As it turns out, a deal was struck between the two companies where, in exchange for Flair appearing at the Hall of Fame (he has since been fired by TNA, by the way), WWE agreed to loan one of their pieces of talent to TNA for a bit of promotional work, likely for an interview for an upcoming TNA DVD release.

Although Christian will likely participate in a DVD project for TNA, it is unknown at this time exactly in what capacity he will be used at TNA’s 10th anniversary PPV event on Sunday. They are announcing their first inductee into their own version of the Hall of Fame that night, and Christian is a former World Champion in their company, so there is a possibility he could be inducted. However, this is unconfirmed, and other candidates, such as Jeff Jarrett and Sting, who have been with the company since the beginning, are much more likely.

More on this story as it develops.