The United States championship is once again on the line as former best friend-turned-rivals kevin owens and Chris Jericho duke it out one more time at Wwe Payback on Sunday at SAP Center in San Jose, California.
What just happened?
Chris Jericho is given another crack at the United States championship after Kevin Owens upended his ‘best-friend’ at the Showcase of the Immortals. Y2J waited 17 years for his first reign as the United States champion, only to be ended right away by the treacherous Owens. Now, Jericho seeks for revenge and he wants to do it by obliterating Owens in the first PPV event after Wrestlemania.
On the other hand, Owens wants to keep his United States title around his waist and keep his persona as the ‘Face of America.’ Owens, who was one of several superstars who changed home after the Superstar Shakeup, has already begun a feud with former WWE champion AJ Styles on the Blue Brand.
However, SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon cleared there’s no assurance he will stay on the program, because only the winner of the United States championship match at WWE Payback will be officially transferred to SmackDown Live.
Who’s going to win?
Among the seven matches (eight if you counted the pre-show match), this is probably the easiest to predict. There’s a reason why Owens is already on SmackDown Live and Jericho is still on RAW.
WWE chairman Vince McMahon has decided to switch the secondary belts of RAW (US Championships) and SmackDown (Intercontinental Championships) to create more intrigue to the mid-card title pictures on both brands.
According to sources, Owens is expected to be the US champions for a long time. In fact, his feud with former WWE champ AJ Styles is aimed to make the US championship prestigious again by pitting in two former world champions.
Owens and Styles are expected to have an extensive feud that could lead to a match at 3 or 4 PPV events, including this year’s SummerSlam in Brooklyn.
As for Jericho, many are expecting Y2J to take another hiatus after his farewell match with Owens at Payback. He has been scheduled to join his touring band Fozzy this May and record another album later this year.
In fact, there are rumblings that this could be the last round of duty for the six-time world champion. Jericho will be turning 47-years old in November, and he has hinted several times already about potentially hanging his wrestling boots for good.
