Just two days after he released a video with a detailed statement denying sexual assault allegations made against him, WWE has announced that Matt Riddle, who debuted on Friday Night SmackDown just a couple weeks ago, will challenge for the Intercontinental championship on next week’s episode.
He didn’t actually appear on this week’s episode. The announcement was made to AJ Styles, who was there to react to it:
.@AJStylesOrg is beside himself after discovering the next challenger for his #ICTitle. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/l6yFTKfCLg
— WWE (@WWE) July 11, 2020
This comes after Riddle defeated Styles in his debut match, a non-title bout. It looked like Riddle would be feuding with Baron Corbin, but it would seem the powers that be decided this was the better direction, at least for now.