This morning WWE released video of AJ Styles commenting on his shocking U.S. Title victory against Kevin Owens at Friday night’s Madison Square Garden live event, in the following exclusive interview:
At last night’s WWE live event house show in Madison Square Garden, Styles surprised everyone by pinning Kevin Owens to become the new champion. Typically, titles don’t change hands in non-televised WWE shows, but last night proved a rare exception.
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Echoing the words of SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon, Styles remarks that the show truly “is the land of opportunity, and sometimes that opportunity comes when people least expect it”– like at a RAW event.
Even though the MSG show *was* technically a RAW Live Event, WWE managed to sneak this SmackDown match and title change onto the card– an example of the company’s increasingly relaxed stance toward the brand-split when it comes to house shows.
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In the aftermath of that house show heard round the wrestling world, there’s been plenty of speculation as to what’s next for the new United States champion AJ Styles and the defeated former “New Face of America,” Kevin Owens.
Proudly calling himself the “New New Face of America” in the interview, AJ Styles wants to make Kevin Owens earn his United States title rematch.
On SmackDown this Tuesday, Styles won an Independence Day Battle Royal to become the number one contender for the US Championship. After eliminating Sami Zayn to win, Styles was jumped by then champion Kevin Owens. But Styles came back and the show closed with the Phenomenal One holding Owens’ title. That image turned out to be quite the omen.
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Asked about how difficult KO made it for AJ to even get a one-on-one match for the belt, Styles responded:
“I think maybe, just maybe, Kevin Owens should have to go should have to go through what I went through. Maybe Kevin Owens has to go through a battle royal to get a #1… or at least be the #1 contender for the United States champion.”
Kevin Owens and AJ Styles were set for a match at Battleground later this month. While that is likely still the plan, the roles of the combatants have now officially reversed.
Hopefully, this also puts to rest concerns the change was made because KO is injured. There at least appears be a longer program in the works, even if they do make the former champ jump through hoops for his contractually guaranteed rematch.
