What’s the story?
The program between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens on SD Live is set to continue on for many months and will not be a “one and done” situation, as revealed on the “Dirty Sheets’ Podcast, via our “DS Breaking News” show. You can listen to the Podcast by clicking the Soundcloud link, below (length: 7 mins and 44 seconds).
In case you didn’t know...
AJ Styles was originally set to move to Raw, however, had he moved, he would have been in a US Title feud with Kevin Owens regardless. This feud was outlined as one of the “priority programs” after last week’s "Superstar Shake-up."
However, in the end, the decision to keep AJ on SmackDown, ultimately came down to how the WWE wanted to handle their No.1 priority project, Roman Reigns. Vince McMahon ultimately did not want Reigns, Randy Orton and John Cena on one brand. Therefore, AJ Styles remained on SD Live, with Kevin Owens moving across from Raw.
The pair were originally set for a long program over the Intercontinental Title last year, which included a WrestleMania 32 encounter between the two, however, Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt being changed to Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose had a domino effect.
Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho was dropped, with Jericho’s opponent changing to AJ Styles. This left Kevin Owens to defend his Championship in an Intercontinental Ladder Match and Bray Wyatt off the card entirely.
The heart of the matter
Kevin Owens and AJ Styles will begin their series of matches at Backlash and are set to continue facing each other, both on the road and on PPV. Fans certainly won’t complain, as many have been wanting this feud ever since Kevin Owens eliminated AJ Styles from the 2016 Royal Rumble, which cut short the Styles’ WWE debut.
What’s next?
The pair will have their first encounter for the United States Championship at Backlash on Sunday 21th May. This will be SmackDown’s first brand-exclusive PPV since WrestleMania 34 and the “Superstar Shake-up.”
Author’s take
Many wanted this after Royal Rumble, however, both performers are considered to be on a much higher level now, which only makes the feud better. It means WWE will give it the time and attention it deserves.
Let’s not forget that these were the two men who actually entered the year as the WWE and WWE Universal champions. While they were champions, we saw a brief altercation between the two men during the Raw vs. SmackDown Survivor Series match and the fans certainly seemed to eat it up.
While WWE Champion Randy Orton will main event on paper, many will consider Owens vs. Styles the main event on any show it features on.
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