A recipe for The Biggest Event of the Summer: Take a Phenomenal One. Add one Face of America (preferably a New one). Add the United States Championship, and sprinkle a generous dash of Shane-O-Mac on top, and you get one of the most combustible United States Title Matches in recent memory.
After trading shocking wins and losses over the “workhorse” championship for months, AJ Styles and Kevin Owens take their white-hot rivalry to SummerSlam, as The Phenomenal One will defend his U.S. Title against KO with none other than SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon as the special guest referee.
That stipulation was made after two controversial incidents involving an official — the first at WWE Battleground when KO won the title from AJ in part because the referee was knocked loopy, and the second on SmackDown LIVE when Styles successfully retained the title against Owens because the ref missed The New Face of America's shoulder rising off the mat.
A furious Owens demanded a rematch at SummerSlam, but he might have pressed his luck when he called for a ref that wouldn't miss anything, as The Prodigal Son quickly volunteered himself for the task.
Given that Owens is going against a Superstar whom he's openly antagonized for months, with an official whom he's, well, also openly antagonized for months, he would certainly seem to have his work cut out for him. But Styles shouldn't consider this one a gimme just yet. If there is anyone — anyone — who can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, it's Kevin Owens, and Shane is nothing if not a man of his word: He'll call the match down the middle whether it means handing his old WrestleMania foe a victory or a loss. In other words, after weeks of shenanigans, this one might come down to which Superstar is simply the better workhorse.