Royal Rumble 2018: The Phenomenal One, AJ Styles, overcame the numbers game

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens took the fight to AJ Styles, the WWE Champion, in the first ever handicap match for the WWE Championship. But Styles overcame the numbers game to pick up the victory.

The match got off to a funny start, as Owens and Zayn kept tagging each other in the match. The crowd at the Wells Fargo Center enjoyed it, but the champ wasn’t thrilled about their antics.

So, Styles didn’t waste time attacking Zayn and Owens. He used his quickness and wrestling prowess to neutralize both opponents early. But the numbers game quickly caught up to the Phenomenal One. Owens and Zayn went on an offensive barrage and kept Styles in the corner.

Owens and Zayn clicked on all cylinders as a team. In fact, Owens took Styles outside of the ring to inflict more damage on him. Zayn, on the other hand, applied tons of submission holds on Styles.

The Phenomenal One tried to rally by using his eye-popping athleticism, but Owens ended the rally quickly.

However, the match turned in Styles’ favor when he moved about the way of a Senton Bomb in the corner. Owens hit his left knee on the turnbuckle and was in obvious pain. That move evened the playing field for the champ. Owens tried to keep himself fresh by tagging in Zayn, but Styles kept out-maneuvering both of them.

Moments later, Styles applied the Calf Crusher on Owens. But Zayn came back into the ring to break the hold. After that, Zayn and Owens hit Styles with some thunderous moves, and it looked like Styles would lose the match. But he kicked out of the second count when Zayn pinned him, and the crowd cheered loudly.

Styles almost won the match when he hit Zayn with the Phenomenal Forearm. But Owens stepped into the ring to break the up the pin.

But Styles eventually overcame the numbers game by throwing Zayn out the ring and pinning Owens for the win. There was some controversy at the end, though. Zayn never tagged Owens into the match, so this could be a problem on SmackDown.