AJ Styles' SummerSlam Opponent to be Announced on July 24 Episode of SmackDown Live

AJ Styles successfully defended his WWE Championship at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view by defeating Rusev with a Phenomenal Forearm. With his reign now eclipsing 250 days, Styles looks ahead to the second biggest pay-per-view of the year on Aug. 19, SummerSlam.

Tuesday's edition of SmackDown Live didn't give fans a definitive answer as to who Styles' opponent will be, but general manager Paige announced that the No. 1 contender would be announced on the next episode on July 24.

Since this is the WWE, this will likely result in multiple potential contenders battling it out for the spot, similar to how Raw is determining its No. 1 contender for Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship. On Monday six challengers stepped forward leading to a pair of triple threat matches, and the winners (Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley) will face each other on the July 23 episode of Raw.

There are a number of Superstars who could get the nod to face Styles. Samoa Joe made his intentions about becoming WWE Champion known in the past, and he looked dominant in his win over Tye Dillinger on Tuesday. Rusev lost his match with Styles in large part due to interference from Aiden English, so perhaps he gets another nod. And now that he's back (and heel once again), the WWE creative team could always insert Randy Orton back into the title hunt.

Elsewhere on the show Daniel Bryan and The Miz finally got into a physical altercation after months of antagonizing each other. Perhaps their feud leads to them both becoming No. 1 contenders to make it a triple threat match.

Whatever WWE chooses to go with, they've got a number of solid options.

Styles originally won the championship on an episode of SmackDown Live in Manchester, England, back in November when he defeated then-champ Jinder Mahal. He's since gone on to defend it against the likes of Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura.

SummerSlam takes place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Aug. 19. So far only a few matches have been announced for the show.

Lesnar will defend his Universal Championship for the first time since the Greatest Royal Rumble, Ronda Rousey will have her second chance at the Raw Women's Championship when she faces Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch will get a shot at the SmackDown Women's Championship if she can beat Carmella on the next episode fo SmackDown Live.