Who Will AJ Styles Face At WWE SummerSlam 2020?

Which superstar is stepping up to challenge for P1's Intercontinental Championship?

by Andrew Pollard
AJ Styles Jeff Hardy
WWE

With AJ Styles’ Intercontinental Championship reign having now clocked in at the two-month mark, there’s news on who the Phenomenal One may be defending the gold against at this month's WWE SummerSlam PPV.

According to PWInsider, it will be Jeff Hardy stepping up to challenge AJ for the IC Title at WWE’s annual Biggest Show of the Summer.

Going further, PWI is reporting that this feud will kick into gear on this week’s episode of SmackDown, which is actually being recorded at the WWE Performance Center today.

Advertisement

Hardy is fresh off a booze-soaked rivalry with Sheamus that culminated with the Charismatic Enigma defeating the Celtic Warrior in a Barroom Brawl bout. As for Styles, since beating Daniel Bryan to become Intercontinental Champion on the June 8 SmackDown offering, P1 has successfully retained the title against the likes of Matt Riddle, Drew Gulak, and Gran Metalik.

Right now, the WWE SummerSlam card is looking like:

Advertisement

Randy Orton vs. WWE Champion Drew McIntyre

‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt vs. Universal Champion Braun Strowman

Advertisement

Asuka vs. Raw Women’s Champion Sasha Banks

MVP vs. United States Champion MVP

Andrade & Angel Garza vs. Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits

Elsewhere, SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley will defend her title against the winner of a three-brand battle royal that will take place on this week’s episode of SmackDown.

WWE SummerSlam takes place on August 23, and WWE is eager to host the PPV away from the Performance Center – with Orlando’s Amway Center seemingly being the company’s #1 choice to host the event if at all possible.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.