Late last week the WWE threw their fans a curve ball when AJ Styles won the united States Championship from Kevin Owens during a non-televised event.

The two had been set to clash for the title at Battleground so fans in attendance were likely expecting to see an Owens win at Madison Square Garden.

Return to an old formula

Following Styles' shock win, everyone was curious to see just how his first episode of Smackdown as the US Champion would go.

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It got off to an early start as Styles came to the ring to announce that he intended to bring back the United States Championship open challenge.

The challenge - which originated during John Cena's US title reign, grants any superstar in the back a title shot right there and then.

Styles announced that he would be hosting the challenge on Smackdown and called for his first challenger to come out.

It took a while but finally the music of John Cena would play and the newly returned 16 time World Champion would enter the arena.

The two men have a lot of history together given that they have competed several times before in some very high profile matches.

When Cena accepted the challenge, the fans were excited at the chance to see a rematch from their last encounter at the Royal Rumble.

Their hopes wouldn't materialise though as the former US Champion Kevin Owens and Cena's Battleground opponent Rusev would prevent the match from starting.

With Battleground less than two weeks away and Owens receiving his title rematch at the event, it could be unlikely that Styles will host another open challenge until after that event.

Testing the waters?

The news from Styles on Tuesday that he wanted to bring back the US title open challenge was met with a great reaction from the crowd.

While Styles is still embroiled in his feud with Owens, the challenge may not be a practical idea, but it could be possible that WWE was using the segment to test fan reactions to the return of the gimmick.

If that were to be the case then it clearly went down well - as did the prospect of another match between Styles and Cena.