WWE Fastlane 2021: 5 Things that could happen at the PPV - Former Tag Team Champion returns, Huge heel turn

2.) Apollo Crews v. Big E will end in controversial fashion

Apollo Crews and Big Ego to war again

The WWE Intercontinental Championship title picture has quietly become one of the most interesting angles on WWE SmackDown lately. Much of that has to do with the always entertaining champion Big E. However, Apollo Crews has gone through a complete character transformation and is gaining a lot of momentum.

The feud began when Crews answered Big E's open challenge. Crews lost the match but wanted one more shot at the title. Big E turned down his request in favor of Shinsuke Nakamura. Crews attacked both men during the match and officially turned heel.

The following week, he debuted a new "Nigerian Royalty" gimmick, which he says is him embracing who he really is. The match was made official for Fastlane after the March 12th edition of SmackDown.

Crews has been an interesting wrestler since last summer. He began to show signs of his true potential during his United States Championship reign and feud with the Hurt Business. He did cool off a bit after dropping the title to Bobby Lashley, but with this current feud with Big E and his new character, we are seeing a whole new side to him.

"I gladly accept your challenge for the Intercontinental Title at #WWEFastlane!" Looks like @WWEApollo is ready...is @WWEBigE? #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/xYStusmVzQ

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) March 13, 2021

As for their match at WWE Fastlane, this has all of the ingredients for a controversial finish leading to a final match at WrestleMania. Apollo has a fresh new character that should not be losing cleanly this soon. Big E has been booked fairly strongly since winning the title and it feels like he is waiting to be elevated to the main event. With WrestleMania being two weeks after WWE Fastlane, there will be no time to build up another feud for the IC title.

An extremely angered and vengeful @WWEBigE returns to #SmackDown to tell @WWEApollo how the future will unfold! pic.twitter.com/Kj3viaxZXd

— WWE (@WWE) March 13, 2021

The most likely outcome for the Intercontinental Championship Match will see another finish involving the steel steps. However, this time it will not be Apollo using the steel steps, but Big E. When he returned to WWE SmackDown after the steel step attack, Big E cut a serious promo on being after Crews' head. What better way to go "eye for an eye" than for him to attack Apollo with the steel steps?

This finish protects Apollo's new character from taking a loss right out of the gate and extends the feud to WWE's show of shows. It also shows that Big E should not be taken lightly.