WWE Championship picture heated up on Smackdown over the past few weeks. AJ Styles has been the title-holder for 250 plus days.
He is the strongest champion present on the current roster. So his strong title defence at Summerslam can solidify his legacy. So the GM started searching a valid opponent for him.
Samoa Joe turned out to be the name that Paige had in mind for AJ Styles. But The Destroyer took an unusual way to confirm his title shot. He attacked the champion on Smackdown two weeks ago. The locked Coquina Clutch choked him out for good inside the ring. It was the reason why AJ Styles was not present last week.
The Samoan Submission Machine took the rivalry further by delivering a heel promo. He verbally attacked AJ Styles family to make the rivalry personal. Insulting the champion’s fatherhood was part of the planning for Samoa Joe. It happened in the absence if the man whose house Smackdown is.
With that being said, we could not wait to hear from AJ Styles, as he returned to Orlando, Florida. It was the same place where he defeated Shane McMahon. It was his second ever Wrestlemania moment which he considers to be the best of his WWE career. So, it gave him goosebumps while entering Smackdown Live last night.
The crowd made him feel special with the AJ Styles chants on a constant basis. He accepted the fact that this is what drives him to perform on a regular basis. He is back in the house that he built better than ever. A video package aired on the Tron reminding us about the insult that Samoa Joe made about him last week.
The WWE Champion addressed the elephant in the room saying that the rivalry has become personal on Smackdown. Samoa Joe should not have taken his family’s name with purpose. It should always stay between the competitors. But he accepted the fact that Samoa Joe was a friend of his family for a long time.
They shared a bond by performing in the independent circuit for a long time. But all of that went away with a sneak attack from the Samoan Submission Machine. He crossed the limit by calling AJ Styles a disgraceful father.
But this would not allow him to capitalize at Summerslam. He would not allow the contender to walk out as the WWE Champions on August 19th, no matter what. Samoa Joe did not show up in this segment which came to an abrupt end. We hope to get a final confrontation between these two on Smackdown on the go-home show i.e. next week.
