AJ Styles to defend WWE Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Hardy this week

Since returning to WWE SmackDown on May 2020, AJ Styles has been dominating the blue roster. He defeated A-listers like Daniel Bryan, Shinsuke Nakamura, and others in the Intercontinental Championship tournament and went on to become the IC champion. Until now, AJ Styles has successfully defended his title against talents like Drew Gulak, Matt Riddle and Gran Metalik, but now he is set to take on someone, who has the power to stop his dominant reign.  

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On the upcoming WWE SmackDown episode, AJ Styles will defend his Intercontinental title against WWE veteran Jeff Hardy. According to reports, AJ Styles has a high chance of retaining his title, but the two could go on to have a rematch at the WWE SummerSlam 2020. However, some fans speculate that The Charismatic Enigma would defeat AJ Styles on WWE SmackDown as WWE has some other plans for The Phenomenal One. Fans think that AJ Styles could start a feud with Sheamus, Daniel Bryan or some other A-list superstar. The rumours of WWE pushing AJ Styles for the Universal title is also going around.

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WWE SmackDown Results: Jeff Hardy challenged AJ Styles

AJ Styles walked about with Christopher Parks (formerly Abyss in Impact Wrestling) and said that he’s in the ring to talk about his next opponent. He said he loves being a champion, but prefers to sit at home and stream on Twitch. AJ Styles then claimed that he has created a statistical system to determine who should challenge for his title. He unveiled a whiteboard which had his name on it, before saying “no has earned a title match” against him.

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Jeff Hardy then interrupted the promo and pointed out that Sheamus robbed his chance in the Intercontinental Championship tournament. He claimed that he doesn’t want to delve in the past and remembered why the Intercontinental is so special for him. He said the IC title means a lot to him since it was the first singles title he ever won. Jeff Hardy then challenged AJ Styles to a title match, but the champion refused. AJ Styles started trash-talking, which forced Jeff Hardy to attack him. After taking out AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy signed his own name on Styles' whiteboard. A couple of hours later, WWE made the match official.

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Image Source: WWE.com