AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens Ends In Controversy On SmackDown Live

The most hyped edition of WWE SmackDown Live in quite some time kicked off with a bang on Tuesday night.

Immediately following the show opening, we were greeted by WWE U.S. Champion AJ Styles making his entrance for his title defense against Kevin Owens. Talk about a heck of a way to start a broadcast.

This was the fourth high-profile match involving Styles and Owens in less than two weeks. Styles defeated Owens at a Madison Square Garden live event to capture the U.S. title on July. That was followed by Owens (perhaps by botched-finish) defeating Styles to win the belt back at WWE Battleground. The pair followed that up two nights later on last week’s SmackDown in a triple threat match with Chris Jericho that saw Styles recapture the championship.

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Did the pair continue playing hot potato with the U.S. title on Tuesday night?

Styles retained the belt in controversial fashion after a tremendous bout that went over 15 minutes and had the Cleveland crowd going crazy. Highlights included a Flying Forearm by Styles to the outside and Kevin Owens escaping the Calf Crusher on two occasions (a headbutt the first time and a rope break the second).

After the referee was inadvertently taken out with a shot to the eye, a distracted Kevin Owens went for the Pop-Up Powerbomb. Styles reversed it into a roll-up for the pinfall. Owens clearly had his shoulder up, but WWE played the finish up as the referee being unable to see that Owens obviously escaped the pin.

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After the match, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were shown examining the referee’s eyes backstage and acknowledging the messed up finish. A furious Owens came in and argued with McMahon. McMahon said he would be giving Owens a rematch at SummerSlam. Owens pleaded that he wanted a referee that wouldn’t get taken out next time. Bryan suggested McMahon referee the bout and McMahon confirmed it.