AJ Styles No Longer Defending The WWE Championship On SmackDown Live?

AJ Styles recently defeated Jinder Mahal to become a two time WWE Champion, and Sunday night he faced Brock Lesnar in a non-title match at Survivor Series. Prior to the match Jinder Mahal announced that he would be challenging Styles for the title on SmackDown Live this week, but now it looks like the title match may not take place.

In the official SmackDown preview on WWE.com, the title match is not mentioned, and rather than a title match, a confrontation between Styles and Mahal is being teased. WWE posted the following:

“Although WWE Champion AJ Styles failed to conquer Universal Champion Brock Lesner at Survivor Series, he left WWE’s second-longest running pay-per-view looking phenomenal after a gutsy effort. Nevertheless, Styles may have no time to reflect on his hard-fought showdown against The Conqueror.”

“Last week, former titleholder Jinder Mahal made no bones about his intentions to come after the WWE Champion once Lesnar was done with him. Will Styles and the former titleholder cross paths tonight? And if they do, considering the beatdown that the Phenomenal One has already endured this week, will he be in any condition to repel an assault from The Modern Day Maharaja?”

Fans who were looking forward to a title match will surely be disappointed, but if the match doesn’t take place then at least AJ Styles fans will be happy to know The Phenomenal One will be holding on to his title for another week.