5 Superstars who could defeat Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship

#2 Big E

Temporary separation, perhaps.

With Xavier Woods' nasty Achilles injury keeping him out for possibly a year, it may be time for the New Day to take a break from their partnership. Kofi Kingston was the WWE Champion until a few weeks ago and has shown very subtle signs of frustration since then. This could lead to him going on a solo quest to re-capture the WWE Title, which leaves Big E free to make the upper mid-card of SmackDown his own.

He has developed into a fantastic big man performer over the years, both inside and outside the ring. The former Intercontinental Champion is ready to be pushed as a singles star again.

Big E is incredibly charismatic and is at least ten times more over right now than when he initially held the title, back when he was still Big E Langston. The powerhouse of the New Day is also a great in-ring worker, making him a solid candidate to provide some excellent title matches.

It would certainly go down as a popular decision if WWE decided to push Big E as the Intercontinental Champion. His muscle alone would be able to counter Sami Zayn's pesky antics at ringside, similar to his impressive burst of fire against Daniel Bryan at the end of a triple threat tag title match at Extreme Rules this year.