As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live, “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles, Sami Zayn and “The Lone Wolf” Baron Corbin competed in a Triple Threat match in the main event of the show to determine the #1 contender for the United States Championship.
Styles won the match by hitting a Phenomenal Forearm on Zayn and became the #1 contender for the US Title.
This move shocked quite a few fans as to why Styles is going after the US Title instead of the WWE Title (which was the original post-WrestleMania 33 plan for Styles).
The reason behind this move is that WWE officials are waiting for the Orton-Wyatt feud to get over (which is expected to happen at Payback 2017 with the “House of Horrors” match).
After the Orton-Wyatt feud is over, Styles is expected to enter the WWE Title picture. This means that Styles won’t be capturing the United States Championship (a Title which he has never held).
It should be noted that Owens will defend the Title against Chris Jericho at Payback 2017 and then Styles is expected to get Title shot, possibly at Backlash 2017.
