A shocking title change happened on SmackDown as Sami Zayn's United States Championship reign has officially come to an end. A returning superstar made his triumphant comeback and became a 3-time champion.This week on SmackDown, Sami Zayn had an issue with Nick Aldis backstage. The General Manager intentionally didn't book Sami on the show, as he feared what the MFT would do to him, as well as his open challenge opponent. Last week, they took out Sami and the returning Shinsuke Nakamura. Aldis insisted that he wanted Nakamura to get a fair rematch, but he was in Japan. Regardless, Sami went out and got his open challenge.It was none other than Ilja Dragunov who would make his triumphant return after 382 days. It was a huge moment, and the match was evenly matched, but in the end, it was Solo Sikoa who made an appearance, standing at the ramp and distracting Sami Zayn. Soon after, Dragunov would end up dethroning Sami to become the new United States Champion.This was undeniably a huge moment on SmackDown, although many WWE fans will likely be disappointed that Sami is no longer the United States Champion. To many, he did the best open challenge since John Cena's iconic run a decade ago.Many superstars have tried to do the open challenge, but Sami is the only one to get the closest to achieving what Cena did. Even though it feels quite short-lived in hindsight, he did undoubtedly have one of the best title runs in 2025, and arguably the best US Title reign in a decade.It's going to be interesting to see how things move forward. Ilja Dragunov didn't have much time to celebrate as the MFT came out to take him, as well as Sami Zayn, out. Rey Fenix, who was assaulted earlier, also came out to help, but Talla Tonga was too strong for him.