AJ Styles Wins US Championship at WWE MSG (Photo)

AJ Styles shockingly won the WWE United States Championship at the MSG event.

AJ Styles found success from his first day on the WWE roster. He debuted at the 2016 Royal Rumble, defeated John Cena twice, and held the WWE Championship from September 2016 to January 2017.

Styles was after another championship, having targeted Kevin Owens’ United States Title. He lost via countout for it at Backlash, but won an Independence Day Battle Royal on the most recent episode of SmackDown Live, which granted the Phenomenal One a future chance at the belt.

Well, Styles had his match on Friday night, but not at a pay-per-view — it came at a live event, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY. There, he defeated Owens for the title, marking the first championship change to happen at a WWE live show since Shinsuke Nakamura in December 2016.

It’s a shocking turn of events, as WWE hasn’t pulled a main roster title change in an even longer time. So to say this was unexpected was an understatement.

For Styles, it’s the first time he’s held a belt since the WWE Championship in January, where he lost it to John Cena, at the 2017 Royal Rumble event. He competed for the title at Elimination Chamber and to face Bray Wyatt for it at WrestleMania 33, but came out unsuccessful both times.

Owens won the U.S. Championship from Chris Jericho on the post-Payback episode of SmackDown Live. He lost it to Jericho at this PPV, which took place two days earlier. So just like that, KO lost his title in somewhat surprising fashion for a second time.

The fallout for this should be interesting on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live. It would be surprising to see the match played during the show, but what if it became a WWE Network special?

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What do you think of this title change? Should WWE start doing this more often at live events?