Back in the day, WWE would typically have title changes at house shows, but that art has been lost now that WWE has TV deals across the world. The promotion usually saves title changes for PPV (pay-per-view) events or television shows. However, once and great while WWE will do a title change at a house show.This is what exactly happened at the WWE live event at the most famous arena in the world, Madison Square Garden, in New York City on July 7th. AJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens to win the WWE United States Title.Owens won the title from Chris Jericho back on May 2nd, 2017 during an episode of SmackDown Live on the USA Network, which marked Jericho’s last match on WWE television due to him going on tour with his rock band Fozzy.

Owens’ first challenger during his latest title run was former WWE Champion AJ Styles. Styles and Owens had a title match last month at the Backlash pay-per-view event, which saw Owens retain the title via count-out. It was a classic match.

Even though most people thought that Styles would get a rematch against Owens, WWE decided to change things up and give a boost to the July 4th edition of SmackDown Live. While the show had the return of John Cena, who had not been seen on WWE programming since WrestleMania 33 in April, WWE booked a special battle royal. The Independence Day Battle Royal. Styles would go onto to win the match to become the new #1 contender to the United States Title.

Owens, who is known as someone to follow on social media due to his lash outs on fans and his comical humor, did not take the loss very well at the live event. As seen below, he was discouraged and depressed about it.

WWE will most likely book a rematch between Styles and Owens at the upcoming Battleground pay-per-view event later this month.