When the WWE "Backlash" 2017 pay-per-view arrives on Sunday night it will feature a battle between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens for The United States title. The two stars have already held onto major titles within WWE within the past year, but now they'll collide over the U.S. Championship belt. Owens has held the title ever since defeating his former friend Chris Jericho weeks ago, while Styles has yet to hold onto that particular piece of hardware. Here's the latest match preview as well as who should win Sunday night.
Two different paths
Kevin Owens is now a multiple-time United States Champion.
He defeated Chris Jericho for the championship at "WrestleMania 33" in early April, but then dropped the title to him during the "Payback" pay-per-view weeks after. Owens had originally been a part of the "Raw" roster but then was moved to "SmackDown Live" in the "Superstar Shake-up." The same fate befell Jericho, and Owens defeated him for the title, before sending him away injured.
Prior to all of that, a No. 1 contender's match was held to find the next challenger for the U.S. Championship. AJ Styles ended up capturing the win. "The Face That Runs the Place" as he likes to be known, will now try to add this particular WWE belt to his list of accomplishments. To date, Styles has never held the U.S.
title but is a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion on "SmackDown."
Match winner?
The two competitors will battle at Allstate Arena on Sunday night over the title belt. As of this report, the Paddy Power Irish sports book lists AJ Styles as the favorite to win the match, with odds of 8 to 11. Current champ Kevin Owens has even odds, meaning he is a very slight underdog to win.
One has to think Styles gets the win in this big match on Sunday night, mostly because he's not part of the WWE World Championship picture right now. He's been established recently as a "babyface" with the fans and giving him a title that represents the United States makes sense, as Styles is from the U.S., while Owens is from Canada.
All that said, there may be bigger plans in store for Styles going forward, as there are already WWE rumors of him having a big "WrestleMania 34" matchup with Shinsuke Nakamura.
The WWE "Backlash" PPV takes place on Sunday night beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. As far as where this match will wind up on the card, that's anyone's guess. In recent pay-per-view match cards, it seems the U.S. title was placed rather early in the night, but this could even be a third-to-last match, depending on how WWE has it booked.
