A title change has taken place during tonight’s March 27 episode of WWE SmackDown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
UPDATE: Two matches added to WWE WrestleMania 42 – click here for the latest.
With tonight marking just 22 days until WrestleMania 42, there has been another twist on the road to the major event.
As has been a theme in recent months, tonight’s SmackDown saw Carmelo Hayes put his WWE United States Championship on the line in an open challenge.
Answering the open challenge was former champion Sami Zayn, who emerged victorious tonight and is the new two-time US Champion.
This puts an end to Hayes’ reign at 89 days after he won the title from Ilja Dragunov on December 26.
It was Dragunov who had ended Zayn’s first reign with the title in October.
How Sami Zayn Won The WWE United States Championship
Early during tonight’s WWE SmackDown, Nick Aldis informed Trick Williams backstage that he had booked Williams a match at WrestleMania 42.
Sami Zayn overheard this conversation, and then asked Aldis what the plans are for himself at Mania – Aldis’ response was to gently inform Zayn that there are currently no Mania plans for him.
Zayn was instantly depressed by this revelation, then turned around and struck a gloating Trick Williams, before proclaiming that he will, in fact, get himself onto the Mania card.
Later in the show, Carmelo Hayes headed out to defend his US Title in the open challenge, and it was Zayn who answered.
Williams came out to ringside to watch the match, cheering on Hayes throughout, mainly because he wanted to see Zayn fail.
However, as Zayn got very close to pinning Hayes, Williams stood up out of his seat and grabbed the US Title belt, sliding it into the ring in front of Zayn.
The referee took the belt, and while he was distracted taking it back outside the ring, Williams tried to land a shot on Zayn but struck Hayes by accident.
This allowed Zayn to take advantage and follow up with the Helluva Kick to score the win and become champion.
Is Sami Zayn Winning The US Championship A Good Idea?
There are certainly a segment of fans online who aren’t pleased about Sami Zayn picking up the WWE United States Title – especially because he took it from Carmelo Hayes just three weeks before WrestleMania.
There were also some noticeable boos for Zayn in the arena tonight, though there have been teases of a heel turn in recent weeks.
The likelihood now is that Zayn will defend the title against Williams at Mania, with a big question being whether it’ll be a singles match or a three-way involving Hayes, who has plenty of history with Williams from their days in NXT that hasn’t really been revisited on the main roster as of yet.
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