Gunther To Defend His Title In A 5-Man Ladder Match At WWE MSG Show This Monday
It's Christmas Eve and the very short break WWE sometimes takes at this time of year is in effect. None of the WWE action you have seen since Monday's Raw has been live as Tuesday's NXT and Friday's SmackDown were taped ahead of time. The same will apply to next week's Raw on December 26 even though by that point, the roster's short Christmas break will have come to an end.
A Massive Ladder Match At MSG
While the Raw Superstars will be performing at an untelevised live event in Columbus, Ohio, the SmackDown brand will be at Madison Square Garden. It doesn't appear to be the scheduled main event for the night, but WWE has announced a huge ladder match for the show. Gunther versus four other Superstars with the Austrian's Intercontinental Title hanging above the ring.
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The other Superstars sharing the ring with Gunther for the monumental ladder match at MSG, and vying for his IC Title, will be Kofi Kingston, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet, and Santos Escobar. A promising chance for the Legado Del Fantasma leader who hasn't been featured all that prominently since the group was called up to the main roster and Elektra Lopez was replaced with Zelina Vega.
A Potentially Even Bigger Main Event
As for why the ladder match won't close the show, up until recently, that slot was occupied by a massive match pitting The Bloodline against Kevin Owens, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, and Braun Strowman. However, with McIntyre still unable to return to the ring as he recovers from an injury, that match has been dialed back to a simple two-on-two with the titles on the line. The Usos versus Strowman and KO.
As for Gunther's big IC defense, there's a very real chance he loses the title at MSG. It's been a while since WWE switched a championship at a live event, something it used to like to do on a semi-regular basis to remind fans anything can happen at any time. It'll be one of the last opportunities Gunther's challengers have to dethrone him before he becomes the longest-reigning IC Champion in over a decade.
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