WWE News: AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens announed for the Royal Rumble

General Manager Daniel Bryan announced that AJ Styles will defend his WWE Championship in a handicap match against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The announcement was made following the SmackDown Live main event between Styles and Zayn where Owens distracted the referee long enough to allow Zayn to escape a pinning predicament. Commissioner Shane McMahon then jumped on the apron requesting Owens be banned from ringside, but Bryan suggested that McMahon be banned from ringside as well.

Bryan and McMahon’s bickering coupled with Owens’ interference allowed Zayn to hit the Helluva Kick on Styles for the victory.

YEP! @SamiZayn just DEFEATED #WWEChampion @AJStylesOrg on the first #SDLive of 2018! @FightOwensFight pic.twitter.com/9m9zUxTaj4

— WWE (@WWE) January 3, 2018

After the match, Styles was furious at everyone involved and suggested the SmackDown authority figures book him in a handicap match against Owens & Zayn, but Bryan took that request and made it into a handicap championship match.

Styles’ frustration with Owens & Zayn stems from last week’s main event which featured a non-title match Owens and Styles. The match was booked by Bryan, but it would be McMahon’s inadvertent interference that cost Styles that match.

The last handicap championship match took place on January 9, 2017, when Chris Jericho teamed with Kevin Owens and defeated Roman Reigns to win his first United States Championship.

The tensions between McMahon are clearly heading to a boiling point and will likely intensify as SmackDown continues to build towards the Royal Rumble.

Whether this championship match will remain as it was announced remains to be seen.

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