Santos Escobar advances in United States Championship Invitational

United States Champion Austin Theory hasn’t been featured all that much on television of late, and his title hasn’t been given nearly the same focus as the other championships in WWE. Going into Friday Night SmackDown this week, he didn’t even really have a number one contender for it.

The promotion went about starting to change that in the form of what they are calling an “Invitational.” It’s basically just two Fatal 4-Way matches, one this week and one next, with the winners meeting the week after to determine who will be next to challenge for the title.

This week saw Grayson Waller, BUTCH, Santos Escobar, and AJ Styles come together for the first one. They tore the house down too, with a really well laid out blitz of a 4-Way that featured a ton of great action. Styles was nearing victory when Karrion Kross was shown taking out The O.C. backstage. In the ring, Grayson Waller hit the Rolling Stunner on BUTCH but Escobar came off the top rope with the Frog Splash to score the three count and the victory.

Escobar awaits the winner of next week’s Fatal 4-Way, which will feature Rey Mysterio, Sheamus, Cameron Grimes, and LA Knight.

Get complete SmackDown results and coverage of this week’s show right here.