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AJ Styles is officially the new Intercontinental Champion. With the win, he's now won the three main singles Championships in WWE, having won the WWE Championship once, the United States Championship thrice, and now for the first time, he's the WWE Intercontinental Champion.
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He defeated Daniel Bryan in an extremely long match that took place over the course of four commercial breaks. While the match could have been far shorter, the outcome was one that fans were never going to complain about.
Having to choose between AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan would never be a problem and ultimately, it all boils down to whether a heel or a babyface should be the Champion right now. As you know, Sami Zayn was the last Intercontinental Champion, but his withdrawal from the TV tapings meant that WWE would be forced to strip him of the Championship.
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Either way, here are five reasons why AJ Styles won the Intercontinental Championship against Daniel Bryan on SmackDown:
#5. WWE can rely on AJ Styles during the pandemic
AJ Styles is undoubtedly one of the most reliable Superstars on the WWE roster. We can go back to one specific example in October 2017 that truly earned Styles the respect of those backstage, including Vince McMahon.
Styles, a SmackDown Superstar at the time, was in South America doing a Live Event tour with the Blue brand. TLC happened to be in a couple of days and with little notice, he ended up flying from another continent to replace Bray Wyatt and face Finn Balor in a last-minute dream match.
To add to it, he was sick while all of it happened and ended up putting on a clinic with Balor anyway. This is only one of many examples that prove why WWE has faith in Styles to be a reliable Champion.
#4. WWE didn't want/need a babyface Champion
When looking at the current Champions on RAW and SmackDown, it's primarily dominated by babyfaces. The WWE Championship, Universal Championship, RAW and SmackDown Tag Team Championships, and the United States Championship are all held by babyfaces.
The only heel Champions happen to be Sasha Banks and Bayley, with the latter holding two Championships. While it may not seem like such things matter, the reality is that these kinds of factors play a big role when making such decisions.
It makes sense as well since WWE needs a balance between heel and face Champions. There have been periods where heel Champions have dominated, but this isn't one of them. We mustn't forget that AJ Styles' first Championship win in 2016 was the WWE title and his four-month run with the title was one where he was a top heel.
At the time, SmackDown needed a top heel and WWE decided to go with the man who had only signed with the company around eight months before.
#3. Daniel Bryan doesn't need a Championship
Daniel Bryan is officially in a similar position to what Shawn Michaels was in during his second WWE run. While The Heartbreak Kid won his final World Championship months after returning (in the first Elimination Chamber match), he simply didn't feel the need to hold it again.
And he was in a prime position to win it on many occasions, such as the main event of WrestleMania 23, but he chose to be selfless and help younger Superstars such as John Cena at the time.
Daniel Bryan is still among the best in-ring performers in the world and has won numerous accolades with WWE. While his first Intercontinental Championship reign in 2015 accomplished nothing before he was forced to vacate, there isn't any requirement for him to win the title.
We're not saying that he'll never win a Championship in WWE again - just that he's been around for so long and he's such a highly-respected veteran that he can finish out his career without any more titles and his legacy will remain unharmed.
#2. AJ Styles was overdue for another major title win
AJ Styles won his first Championship of 2020. It would be hard to imagine a year where he hasn't won a Championship, but 2019 was a year that was surprisingly less on accolades for him. While he didn't "win" a title in 2018, he was the WWE Champion for almost 11 out of 12 months.
His last Championship was the United States Championship - where he beat Ricochet at WWE Extreme Rules to win the title. He would drop it to Rey Mysterio on the RAW after Survivor Series 2019 in a fantastic match.
While he was always an important star on RAW, he's felt more in place on the Blue brand and one can't overstate how important he's been to SmackDown's success over the last few years.
WWE likely wants to pile up the accolades on AJ Styles, but we can't be sure if he'll ever be a Grand Slam Champion now that Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are gone.
#1. It's a stepping stone to re-build him as the face of SmackDown
When looking at some of the greatest names in SmackDown history, we think of legends such as Eddie Guerrero, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, Edge, Brock Lesnar in his first run, and a few others such as Batista, who had a short but massive impact on the brand while they were there.
AJ Styles belongs in that same conversation for the work he did on SmackDown between late July 2016 until April 2019. There was a lot of speculation for two years running that Styles' popularity and success would see him move to RAW, but WWE chose to make him stay on SmackDown, where he became the face of the brand.
He's now back where he belongs and with Gallows & Anderson gone, we can see a situation where he quietly turns face or remains a 'tweener at the very least. The Intercontinental Championship win might just be WWE's attempt to rebuild him as the face of SmackDown until his contract ends.
He's made it no secret that he signed his "last" WWE contract before retirement. Perhaps it's a long-term plan to help establish another Superstar.
