Mr. McMahon was deciding between Roman Reigns and Big E as the last two men in the decision-making process for who was going to be the next face of WWE after John Cena in 2015. It has been a slow but steady rise to the top of the company for Big E, but any intuitive member of the WWE universe could have inferred that (it’s still not complete until he wins a world title – that will happen when the time is right). As Paul Heyman alluded to a couple of weeks ago, this Intercontinental championship victory last week was the first step for E in reaching the same status as Roman Reigns.
The last time the current champion won the IC championship he held it for roughly 6 months, so he might hold the same title this go around for the same amount of time or longer to give him credibility as a champion right now and as a Universal champion in the future. 2021 is off to a great start for E, and this might be the time in his career that he remembers most fondly when it is all said and done. The New Day will be a wonderful chapter in his career (and maybe the most fun), but it will probably not be what he is most fondly remembered for.
Overall this is an absolutely fantastic time for SmackDown because the brand is led by two of its top athletes and most dynamic characters – Roman Reigns as Universal champion and Big E as Intercontinental champion. It is finally starting to pay off for Big E after 8 years on the WWE main roster, now it will be rather poetic if an incredible worker and surprisingly charismatic Cesaro were to experience something similar in the next couple of years. Cesaro is a man who has spent a significant portion of his career (just like Big E) as a tag team wrestler, largely with Sheamus as The Bar.
Big E will begin his second Intercontinental championship reign by defending against Apollo Crews just two weeks after winning the title on Christmas Day. It is very encouraging to see Apollo being spotlighted again by WWE after not having been featured on WWE programming since September when he feuded with Bobby Lashley over the United States championship on RAW. Crews was drafted to SmackDown in October 2020 and is beginning 2021 the right way with an intercontinental title opportunity. This is also the first Apollo has been used in the months since he switched brands in the draft.
Crews has moved between RAW and SmackDown more times than most people care to keep up with since being called up to the main roster from NXT in 2016 (right after WrestleMania 32). He was drastically underutilized on the main roster until the night after Mania 36 when he defeated Aleister Black (who Mr. McMahon is not particularly high on). The vibe and in-ring style Black presents are almost tailor-made to what Triple H and Shawn Michaels want to present in NXT but not as much for the main roster. Black has asked WWE management about returning to NXT, but he was told no.
Crews has undoubtedly had the greatest year of his WWE career so far, having become United States champion (his first title on the main roster). Right now the 33-year-old is kind of in the same boat as Ricochet, another former United States champion who Mr. McMahon is also not particularly high on. According to the Chairman of the Board, Ricochet was always more of a Paul Heyman project, so the push of The One and Only slowed along with that of Aleister Black when Heyman was relieved of his duties as Executive Director of Monday Night RAW.
Paul Heyman was only in charge of the booking duties for Monday Night RAW for a little over a year, but it doesn’t make much sense right now because the ratings for the program were experiencing a resurgence with Paul in charge. New superstars were being focused on and that was drawing many viewers. Now Monday Night RAW is in the proverbial toilet right now from a ratings perspectives (the program received its lowest rating in its history on December 14 of 1.527 million viewers).
But for right now the primary focus is Apollo Crews who Mr. McMahon is high on (there have been no reports to the contrary) and will be challenging Big E next week for his first intercontinental championship. It would also be his second title on the main roster.