AJ Styles and Kevin Owens have been feuding for months now, and Owens picked up a big win when he defeated AJ Styles and captured the US Title at Battleground a few weeks ago. However, his reign was short-lived.
Last week on SmackDown Live, AJ Styles demanded a rematch, but he was interrupted by the one and only Chris Jericho. Chris made his surprise return, and he also made it known that he wanted a shot at the US Title. SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon then did the fans a big favor when he booked a triple threat match with the US Title on the line for the main event of the show.
It was AJ Styles who picked up the big win last week after he pinned Chris Jericho to become the United States Champion for the second time in his career. After the match Styles celebrated with the belt inside the ring, but Kevin Owens ruined the celebration when he made a very special announcement.
Owens announced that he would be invoking his rematch clause on the next episode of SmackDown Live, and that’s exactly what he did on Tuesday night.
AJ Styles and Kevin Owens kicked off the show this week, and they both gave everything they had.
Styles got the big win and retained the title, but the match ended in a controversial fashion.
Owens took a swing and tried to punch AJ in the face, but he inadvertently knocked out the referee. After the ref went down, Owens hit Styles with a kick to the face then he went for the pop-up powerbomb.
AJ reversed the move and rolled Kevin Owens up, and the referee counted the pin, but Kevin Owens had one shoulder up.
After the match ended, Kevin Owens argued with the referee as the ref sold an eye injury. Medical personnel then checked on the ref and helped him to the back as Kevin Owens stood frustrated in the middle of the ring.
Backstage Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan told the ref he made a bad call, and Kevin Owens yelled at Shane McMahon. Shane told him he’s going to give Owens a US Title match at SummerSlam.
Owens said he wants a referee that won’t get knocked out by a gust of wind, and Bryan named Shane the referee for the title match at SummerSlam.