10 Things We Learned From WWE SmackDown Live! (May 2)

8. Moving Forward

Charlotte Carmella
WWE.com

Chris Jericho's opening (and eventually, closing) promo on SmackDown Live! was interrupted by US Title Number One contender AJ Styles, giving the two opportunity to reminisce on their former partnership and WrestleMania rivalry.

Styles' interjection was a logical one, with his motivation previously being less to do with battling Kevin Owens and more taking advantage of his shot at the elevated secondary title.

Going forward of course, the programme was always destined to feature 'KO' in there with 'The Phenomenal One', and an interruption to proceedings from the former champion triggered a brawl between the two that fuelled their impending rivalry without freezing out the evening's main event.

The impending battle between Owens and Styles has appeared loaded with potential for weeks, and their first true scuffle brought the house down.

Styles flew at the indignant 'Face of America', leathering him with punches until the usual crop of officials intervened.

Before Shane McMahon was finally able to separate them (with Jericho humorously cheering the fight on), the two attacked one another with vim, offering a scintillating tease of things to come between now and their first televised singles match in over a year.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett