AJ Styles-Daniel Bryan WWE title match takes place on SmackDown

With Daniel Bryan not traveling to Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel, WWE explained the situation by moving his WWE Championship match against AJ Styles to tonight’s SmackDown.

Styles retained by reversing a submission hold into the Styles Clash and then tapping out Bryan with the Calf Crusher. The story of the match was Styles attacking Bryan’s left knee after Bryan “tweaked” it on a suicide dive.

As Styles and Bryan were showing respect to each other after the match, there was an angle where Samoa Joe attacked them and put them in the Coquina Clutch. Joe held up the WWE Championship as the segment ended. Later in the show, Styles defending the title against Joe was announced for Crown Jewel.

A confrontation between Styles and Bryan had opened tonight’s show, with Styles admitting that the Pele Kick he gave Bryan in their tag match against The Usos last week was on purpose. Bryan said he wanted to hit Styles, Styles asked what’s stopping Bryan and said he would defend the title tonight, and Shane McMahon came out to make the match official.