AJ Styles was supposed to beat Kevin Owens at Battleground

When AJ Styles won the WWE United States Title at a house show in Madison Square Garden it turned more than a few heads. It brought even more credence to the phrase “you never know what can happen in WWE” and made legions of AJ Styles fans very happy.

But apparently that happiness was to be short lived because Kevin Owens snatched the US Title right back from The Phenomenal One at Battleground. However Dave Meltzer noted on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio that this was not the actual planned finish for the match in Philly.

“That wasn’t supposed to be the finish, that’s all I know. I don’t know if it was changed during the match. I don’t know if it was changed before the match. Styles was supposed to win when the show started. He didn’t win. It wasn’t like it was a ref screw up or anything like that because they could have gone out there and changed it. There was plenty of time to kick out of the cradle finish so it wasn’t anything like that.”

“I don’t know what the screw up was or if it was a change at the last minute because Vince changed his mind but that was the deal. The finish was not the finish that there was when the show started. And the only thing I heard was there was a discussion about the finish that people on the Smackdown crew knew about but they didn’t know the details of exactly what happened in the match.”

Long story short: it sure looks like WWE has some explaining to do in the United States Title picture.

With WWE seemingly pulling this kind of last minute booking decision on a semi-regular basis nowadays it makes it even more important to watch every show. Those who were so certain AJ Styles was going to retain that they put money on the match were probably very upset with this decision. But for fans of The New Face Of America, Kevin Owens happy days are here once again.

If you use any portion of the quotes in this article please credit Wrestling Observer Radio

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