The idea of invoking US Open Challenge did not work well for R-Truth, this time around. The number-games were against him on Smackdown forcing him to drop the title just five days prior to the Fastlane 2019 event. Samoa Joe captured the United States Championship from the prime babyface of the roster. It is the first time ever that the Destroyer has been able to pick up a title after entering the main roster in 2017. He is likely to have a dominant title reign heading into Wrestlemania 35.
Full match card revealed for Fastlane
Full results from Smackdown Live
The US Open Challenge was confirmed for Smackdown a couple of days, ago. R-Truth appeared in the ring with Carmella to speak about getting the original host of such challenges, John Cena. A short promo followed from the duo after which they broke into a dance-break. Following this, a number of superstars appeared in the ring, accepting the title shot.
Andrade, Rey Mysterio, and Samoa Joe arrived to start a fatal-4-way title match on Smackdown. Mysterio was in control putting down Andrade with a 619 followed by a huge splash. Outside the ring, Zelina Vega took out R-Truth with a Hurricurana. Meanwhile, Samoa Joe hit a Senton on Mysterio and delivered a modified Rock Bottom to pin Andrade. This made him the new United States Champion coming out of Smackdown Live.
WWE Diva suffered a wardrobe malfunction
R-Truth started to invoke the US Open Challenge from last week that became an instant hit. Apparently, he was a proud supporter of John Cena who made this trend extremely popular back four years ago. The Cenation Leader used to defend the United States title, each week against new opponents. The current champion also followed the footsteps on Smackdown.
Last week, it was Andrade to accept the US Open Challenge thrown by R-Truth. But he never received the singles contest expected since Rey Mysterio arrived on the scene. This created a triple threat title match. Eventually, Truth pinned Rey to retain his title after which he intended to continue the trend to call out new opponents.
Apparently, it was a good idea to bring back the US Open Challenge on Smackdown Live. R-Truth barely got a chance to show up on WWE TV after winning the title. He missed a number of episodes consecutively until coming back onboard, last week. Following the tradition of a sixteen-time world champion, worked in his favor making his title reign relevant. However, it’s the same challenge that has now taken his title away from him just a few days ahead of Wrestlemania.
