Current WWE champion suffers a massive defeat one day prior to title defense at Payback

The current United States Champion, Rey Mysterio, suffered a surprising defeat during the latest episode of WWE SmackDown.

Mysterio had earlier defeated Grayson Waller in singles competition last week. During the closing stages of that match, Austin Theory tried to cause a distraction, but to no avail, as Mysterio's LWO stablemate Santos Escobar, showed up and saved the day. The tag-team match between the LWO members and the team of Waller and Theory was then announced for this week's episode.

In the opening match of the night, the newly formed team were impressive as they were able to work well together. They cut the ring in half as they isolated Mysterio, and controlled the match. However, the LWO duo turned this around when Escobar was able to tag in and execute some high-flying moves.

When it seemed that Mysterio and Escobar were about to finish the bout, Theory attacked the latter's injured leg. The champion then took Theory to the floor alongside in a high-flying move, while Waller executed the Rolling Thunder Stunner on Escobar to secure the win.

Mysterio is set to defend his United States Championship against Theory at WWE Payback.

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