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What's the story?
AJ Styles and Kevin Owens had a solid match at WWE Backlash, but fans were left disappointed by a count-out finish. However, there was a specific reason the match ended the way it did.
In case you didn’t know...
Kevin Owen's defeated AJ Styles via count-out last to retain his US Championship. It was the first ever PPV match between Styles and Owens. The pair were scheduled to face off at WrestleMania 32, however, creative plans were changed for both men.
The heart of the matter
As reported by myself several weeks back, right here on Sportskeeda, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles have been pencilled in for a long-term feud, where they will meet in multiple matches. You can read the full article here.
With last night, at Backlash, simply being match one in a series, the WWE did not want to put anyone over with a clean finish. Owens winning by pinfall would've left AJ with very little ground for a rematch and Styles winning via pinfall would've meant KO losing the US Championship at back-to-back PPVs, damaging his credibility and that of the US Championship.
Therefore, the WWE had to go down the route of putting someone over via count-out or DQ. Writers flip-flopped about who would go over, as the WWE betting lines clearly indicated, before deciding to put Owens over via the creative count-out finish we ended up seeing.
What's next?
The feud between Styles and Owens will resume on the next episode of SmackDown Live.
Author's take
The match between Owens and Styles was solid, and the finish was unique enough for me to have no complaints about what they did. On a night that finally belonged to Jinder Mahal, the match would have been ultimately forgotten, so the WWE booked it correctly.
I look forward to the next encounter, where we are likely to see a decisive winner.
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