Randy Orton Trolls AJ Styles After WWE Championship Loss

AJ Styles’ 371-day reign as WWE Champion came to an end on Tuesday night after Daniel Bryan hit him with a low blow to set up for a Running Knee finisher and a pin.

Randy Orton, who has never been afraid to poke fun at his fellow wrestlers on social media, brought up Styles getting hit below the belt on Twitter on Wednesday.

“Me not being in the traditional #SurvivorSeries match for the 11th time even though I am the GOAT in that particular match,” Orton wrote in response to question from James Ellsworth. “And (AJ Styles) got kicked in the nuts. Again.”

Between Tuesday night and the numerous shots he took in his feud with Shinsuke Nakamura, Styles has had some pretty bad luck with low blows in 2018.

Bryan has remained silent since winning the championship, going so far as to ignore an interview with WWE.com as he walked backstage with the title over his shoulder. Meanwhile Styles gave his reaction on Wednesday afternoon.

“The thing about being a real Champion, a reigning, DEFENDING champion is that any day someone can beat you,” Styles wrote. “But holding the title is more than just wins and losses, it’s about who you are as a man. Daniel showed us that last night. And the receipt is coming.”

According to Wrestling Observer‘s Dave Meltzer, Bryan had been campaigning for a heel turn for a while backstage. It wasn’t until Tuesday that Vince McMahon finally signed off on it.

“The heel turn was decided this afternoon,” Meltzer said on Tuesday. “It was basically Vince saying, ‘Let’s do it all in one day and get the biggest impact.’ Now the weird part is they’ve spent how much time saying that Brock Lesnar is the ultimate heel, he never comes to work, blah, blah, blah. Now you’re going to put Daniel Bryan against Lesnar and for that match to work Daniel Bryan needs to be a babyface, but he’s a heel. So logically perhaps the heel turn should be in the re-match and not this match. [Bryan] goes into this match as a babyface, do the match, whatever they’re going to do.”

Now that he’s the WWE Champion, Bryan will be the one to face Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series in a non-title match on Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.