WWE Extreme Rules 2019: 5 things WWE did wrong at the PPV

#4 The Intercontinental Match is on the pre-show instead of Owens/Ziggler

Nakamura can now claim to have won both the US and IC titles in WWE

Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura's match for the Intercontinental Championship was hinted at during last week's SmackDown. The title is rarely defended on the pre-show, but was chosen to be one of the two matches not to be on the main show.

The title was made more prestigious last summer as Seth Rollins basically represented RAW as its top champion. Lesnar rarely appeared and defended the Universal Championship, so Rollins was the default top champion on RAW most of the time.

During the Superstar Shake Up, the Intercontinental Champion, Balor, was moved to the blue brand. He won the title back from Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania, and it was thought that being on SmackDown would give "the Demon" a fresh start.

Putting not only Balor but also the title on the pre-show, instead of a match with no title implications like Owens vs. Ziggler was a mistake. Balor and Nakamura are both former NXT Champs and title challengers.

Owens and Ziggler were former title challengers as well, but their match was literally added to the show a day or two before the PPV. I get that they need to have a few matches on the pre-show, but a match for the prestigious title with two of the top performers in WWE shouldn't have been.