Report: WWE Filmed "Unbelievable" AJ Styles Vs. Daniel Bryan Match For SmackDown
Get ready for an Intercontinental Title banger.
It sounds like AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan's WWE Intercontinental Title match was an absolute banger.
The promotion filmed the tournament final as part of their mass tapings last Tuesday (26 May) and sources within the promotion have told Fightful that the quality was "unbelievable," and even re-energised the worn-out group of developmental wrestlers who'd been standing at ringside for most of the day.
Bryan vs. Styles "legitimately pumped up a very tired Performance Center crowd that was there to cheer," per the report. The match will air on SmackDown's 12 June episode rather the Backlash pay-per-view two days later.
While Styles and Bryan are two of the greatest wrestlers of all time between the ropes, unbelievable matches aren't always guaranteed on television, where shortcut finishes are regularly used to prolong feuds and build to bigger bouts. It's heartening, then, to hear that they were seemingly allowed to showcase the full breadth of their skills on the upcoming episode of SmackDown, so fingers crossed the contest lives up to its billing.
The duo's last match was at Royal Rumble 2019, where Bryan settled their months-long beef by successfully defending the WWE Championship. Two outstanding SmackDown bouts and one at TLC 2018 preceded this.