Drew McIntyre And Sheamus To Clash For IC Title Shot After Inconclusive 5-Way On WWE SmackDown

Friday night on "WWE SmackDown," Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER was supposed to find out who his WrestleMania 39 title challenger is going to be. And while that didn't end up playing out decisively, he'll hopefully know who it'll be by the end of next week.

In a Fatal Five-Way match between Karrion Kross, L.A. Knight, Xavier Woods, Drew McIntyre, and Sheamus that was supposed to determine GUNTHER's next challenger, things broke down in the closing moments as Sheamus and McIntyre pinned Woods and Knight, respectively, at the same time. "The Celtic Warrior" took Woods out with a Brogue Kick while "The Scottish Warrior" delivered his signature Claymore to Knight, and that was that. Except that it wasn't.

Later in the show, GUNTHER berated WWE official Adam Pearce, saying that he was supposed to know who his WrestleMania 39 challenger (singular) was, but instead he's now looking at challengers (plural). Fortunately for the champion (and arguably even more fortunately for himself), Pearce found a solution. Next week on "SmackDown," Sheamus and McIntyre will battle it out to see who fights for the Intercontinental Championship in April.

Sheamus, despite his lengthy WWE career, has yet to capture the IC title, something that McIntyre knew all too well when he came out last week to challenge GUNTHER himself. Sheamus, despite failing on two occasions last year to capture that elusive title, including in a "Match of the Year" candidate at Clash at the Castle, took exception. But he'll get one more chance (at a chance) to make things right next week.