What’s the story?
WWE have announced a poll on their official website where they’ve listed a number of wrestlers who could face AJ Styles next in his United States Championship Open Challenge.
In case you didn’t know...
AJ Styles won the United States Championship last week on July 7th in a WWE Live Event at Madison Square Garden, defeating Kevin Owens to become the United States Champion for the first time.
Styles became the No. 1 Contender for the title back in April after he defeated Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin, but couldn’t win the title at Backlash. He won the Independence Day battle royal in last week’s episode of SmackDown which made him the No. 1 Contender for the title once again.
The heart of the matter
In this past week’s edition of SmackDown, Styles laid down the gauntlet to the rest of the SmackDown locker room by issuing a challenge and putting his United States Championship on the line. John Cena answered the challenge, but before Styles and Cena could go at it, they were assaulted by Rusev and former champion, Kevin Owens.
WWE have given the fans the power by adding a poll titled ‘Who would you most like to see answer AJ Styles' United States Championship Open Challenge?’. The list includes John Cena, Shinsuke Nakamura, Baron Corbin, Chad Gable, Jason Jordan, Tye Dillinger, Dolph Ziggler, and Sami Zayn.
As of writing, Nakamura is leading the list with 37% of votes, followed closely by John Cena with 30% of the votes, and Sami Zayn with 13% of the votes.
What’s next?
It was decided this past week that AJ Styles will defend his title against Kevin Owens at Battleground, which will take place on July 23rd, 2017.
Author’s take
The prospect of Cena facing Styles is a mouthwatering one, but the match between Nakamura and Styles could be even bigger, considering their past history in other promotions.
