AJ Styles Defeats Jericho and Kevin Owens for US Title on SmackDown

Earlier tonight, SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon set a surprise match between US Champion Kevin Owens, his current rival AJ Styles, and former friend turned bitter enemy Chris Jericho, who made his surprise return to WWE television in tonight's intro segment.

After rolling AJ out of the ring, Owens and former partner Jericho stared each other in what the announcer's noted was a confrontation three months in the making since their last match, when Jericho had to be stretchered out of the building as KO walked away with his US Title belt.

Owens and Jericho collided in a furious back and forth, with Jericho hitting a code-breaker and massive drop-kick, nearly getting KO into the Walls of Jericho before AJ Styles stormed back into the ring. Styles wore down the returning Y2J with a series of chops and an attempted suplex before knocking him out of the ring.

Kevin Owens then returned to the fray, laying into Styles with both physical and verbal punishment as he shouted, "I'm the REAL CHAMPION" in his opponents face.

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The two rivals traded submission holds, with AJ locking Owens in a calf-crusher in the middle of the ring that looked like it could seal KO's fate only to be broken up by Jericho.

Considering the top-tier participants involved and all the backstory that lead to this fantastic match, it was particularly disappointing to see it not once but twice interrupted by commercial breaks without use of SmackDown's picture-in-picture, including the very start.

Coming back from the second break, all three men remained in the ring. KO nearly got an electric chair drop on Jericho, but wound up in The Walls of Jericho, yet managed to kick out and roll away.

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AJ connected with a springboard 450 splash on Jericho, but fails to make the cover. But Jericho countered his attempt at the Styles Clash, getting BOTH his opponents in consecutive Walls of Jericho before hitting Styles with a massive codebreaker. But just when it looked like Y2J had the cover, AJ kicked out.

The three men exchange kicks, and Jericho thwarts AJ's attempt at a springboard maneuver. Owens connects with a Pop-up Powerbomb on Y2J, but the legend will not die! Owens then climbs to the top rope and hits a Frogsplash, but Styles throws him out of the ring and steals the victory, getting the roll-up pin on Jericho.

This was truly a show-stopper of a main event, leading to another surprise win by AJ Styles and title change between Kevin Owens and the Phenomenal One. Will Jericho remain in the US Title Picture, or was this a one-time appearance by the returning legend? One thing's certain, there's plenty of bad blood between these three, and we could watch this feud play out forever!