5 Things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown: Former Champion to turn heel after 5 years, Tag team silently breaks up? (May 15th, 2020)

#3. Friendly competition and a strengthened alliance

These two are incapable of having a bad match

We were a bit surprised to see that the first round of the Intercontinental Championship tournament put partners and friends Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak up against each other. Unsurprisingly, it was a friendly competition, but one with major consequences.

Both men did all they could to try to out-maneuver the other, with only one mistake needed to cost themselves the match. It was a technical masterclass as expected and Gulak and Bryan proved that they can't have a bad match together.

It was a narrow but close-cut submission victory for Daniel Bryan, who shook his partner's hand afterward in a sign of solidarity. It's been five years since Daniel Bryan held the Intercontinental Championship and one would think that he has the itch to win it back again.

He's set to face the winner of Jeff Hardy vs Sheamus next week. Here's how the overall brackets for the tournament look like:

NEXT | The #ICTitle tournament begins on #SmackDown. First up: @IAmEliasWWE takes on #King @BaronCorbinWWE #WWEAustralia pic.twitter.com/USDLeJ6DwX

— WWE Australia (@WWEAustralia) May 16, 2020

Daniel Bryan and Elias have advanced to the next round of the tournament. Notice a RAW Superstar in the mix?