One of the biggest upsets at the WWE "Monday Night Raw" themed pay-per-view "Payback" on Sunday night occurred when Chris Jericho pinned Kevin Owens to win the United States Championship. However, the WWE announced today that Jericho will put the title on the line on Tuesday night's "SmackDown Live" against Kevin Owens and is expected to drop the title back to Owens in that match.
WWE's "Payback" surprise
The reason that Chris Jericho, a multi-time WWE champion, was not expected to win the United States Championship at "Payback" from Kevin Owens was because Chris Jericho is expected to leave the WWE for at least the next month or two.
Kevin Owens had already moved over to "SmackDown Live" and was preparing for a big match for the United States title against AJ Styles at "Backlash" later in May. Meanwhile, Jericho was set to leave the WWE to tour with his band Fozzy throughout May and into June. There are two reasons that this title change happened anyway. The first is because the WWE wanted to have a surprise title change on a show that was already missing the biggest title on "Raw," the Universal Championship. The second reason was because Jericho winning the match meant that he moved to "SmackDown."
Chris Jericho and Fozzy
With Chris Jericho ready to tour with Fozzy ahead of the release of their new album "Judas," he won't be around much for the WWE.
For one thing, the next "SmackDown" pay-per-view is "Backlash" on May 21 in Chicago and Fozzy has a concert that same night in West Virginia. That means that Jericho can't make the pay-per-view for the scheduled title match. Fozzy is also playing on May 9 in Tennessee while "SmackDown" is in London, as well as on May 16, May 23, and June 13.
There is no way that the WWE keeps the U.S. title on Jericho if he will have to miss four "SmackDown" episodes and the next pay-per-view.
Kevin Owens and alternatives
Kevin Owens gets his rematch against Chris Jericho on "SmackDown Live" this week. While the title change might have been just a way to make "Payback" seem more important than it really was, the WWE will probably put the title back on Owens and continue the AJ Styles storyline.
After that, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles will the probably fight at "Backlash" but then Owens and Styles are likely to move back into the world title scene since they are two of the biggest names on the show right now. Randy Orton is facing Jinder Mahal at "Backlash" but he is expected to eventually turn heel and fight AJ Styles down the line.
