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What's the story?
After an absence from WWE TV for quite some time, Samoa Joe finally made his highly anticipated return to TV on this week's episode of SmackDown Live and despite reports of him being injured, Joe was seemingly keen on sending a message to his arch rivals AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan.
In case you didn't know...
Samoa Joe and AJ Styles initially collided at this year's SummerSlam pay-per-view when the former challenged for the WWE Championship for the very first time ever, however, after a back-and-forth contest, Styles was eventually successful in retaining his title belt via disqualification.
Styles and Joe continued their rivalry for the next few months, with the two facing off in a rematch at Hell in a Cell and then squared off in a third match at WWE Super Show-Down where 'The Phenomenal One' retained via submission.
The heart of the matter
This week's edition of WWE SmackDown Live started with Commissioner Shane McMahon announcing that AJ Styles would be defending his WWE Title against Daniel Bryan on tonight's episode instead of WWE Crown Jewel. And after a 20-minute back-and-forth instant classic, Styles eventually marked another successful title defense when he made Bryan tap out to the Calf Crusher.
However, following the conclusion of the match, in what seemed like a moment of respect between Styles and Bryan, was quickly interrupted by the returning Samoa Joe, who definitely didn't seem too concerned about his supposed injury as he attacked both Styles and Bryan.
The former NXT Champion made his way through the crowd and quickly locked in the Coquina Clutch on Styles and as also laid out the challenged Daniel Bryan, who tried to make the save. Joe then raised the WWE Title as well.
Joe, shortly afterward, also took to his Twitter handle and sent out a very strange message to the WWE Champion, AJ Styles and to supposedly to Daniel Bryan as well.
What's next?
As mentioned by WWE SmackDown Live GM Paige, AJ Styles will now defend the WWE Title against Samoa Joe at Crown Jewel in what is going to be the fourth title match between the pair.
