Smackdown Live: Jinder Mahal, John Cena face-off; New US Champion crowned

The Smackdown Live after WWE Battleground was a solid show with the return of Chris Jericho and a solid main event featuring Jericho, AJ Styles and Kevin Owens. John Cena got himself in to the WWE title picture so did Shinsuke Nakamura.

Chris Jericho returns
After nearly two months’ hiatus, Chris Jericho returned to SmackDown Live in an unexpected manner when the new United States Champion Kevin Owens was busy talking down AJ Styles, who had demanded a rematch for the Championship he lost at WWE Battleground.

Jericho was jumped by Owens in May and had to be stretched out of the Arena but Y2J made it clear that he is also going after the title and demanded a rematch of his own. Owens left Styles and Jericho to sort out the issues before SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon made his way and announced that both Styles and Jericho have a legitimate claim for a rematch and both will get the opportunity at the same time – in a triple threat match the same night



Cena comes face to face with Jinder Mahal
John Cena laid out the challenge for Mahal announcing that he will face the Champion for the WWE Championship at the WWE Summerslam and sure will walk out of the PPV as the 17-time Champion. Mahal had come out demanding a new opponent for Summerslam and he got that. However, SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan interrupted Cena reminding everyone that the matches at SmackDown Live are made by Shane and himself and he made a number one contender’s match next week between Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura. The winner will meet Mahal at the Summerslam for the WWE Championship.



Styles regains US Title
A day after losing the US title to Owens, Styles got back the Championship in a triple threat main event involving Jericho. In the fantastic event, Styles, Owens and Jericho put on a solid match and in the final sequence it was Owens who seemed to have the upperhand after hitting Jericho with the pop up power bomb, Jericho though kicked out and Owens went up top for the bull frog splash. He connected and went for a cover but Styles intervened and threw Owens out of the ring before covering a fallen Jericho to win back the United States championship.



Other results
Shinsuke Nakamura beat Baron Corbin via pin-fall

Sami Zayn and Tye Dillinger beat Mike Kenallis and Aiden English via pin-fall

Charlotte and Becky Lynch beat Lana and Tamina via pin-fall

The Usos jumped New Day and laid to waste all three members of the new tag champs



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