Watch: Samoa Joe’s Message to AJ Styles During WWE Backlash is Both Ominous and Hilarious

AJ Styles won the Intercontinental Championship for the first time on this past week’s Friday Night SmackDown, but it looks like one of his oldest rivals might want to take it from him. During Sunday’s Backlash broadcast Styles appeared in a backstage segment announcing he would be celebrating his championship win on this week’s SmackDown, and the broadcast then cut back to the Raw commentary team. Samoa Joe opted to comment on Styles’ victory, saying, “I think, gentleman, we can all agree we want to give a big congratulations to AJ Styles in a absolutely hard-fought, amazing match against Daniel Bryan. And I hope he gets a little time to celebrate with his family.”

Joe’s smirked as he looked directly into the camera, but then that smile turned into a look of malice as Tom Phillips transitioned into the next segment.

The history between Joe and Styles goes back more than a decade across multiple companies. But when the pair started feuding over the WWE in 2018 Joe repeatedly brought up and threatened Styles’ wife, Wendy. Was this just a clever nod to the continuity between the two, or does Joe want to make the jump the Blue Brand and get his hands on Styles’ title? We’ll have to wait and see.

Between a reported concussion and a 30-Day Wellness Policy suspension, Joe has not worked as an active WWE wrestler since mid-February. He has been working as the third man on the Raw commentary desk since late April.

Check out the full results from Backlash below:

• Randy Orton def. Edge
• WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre def. Bobby Lashley
• WWE Universal Championship: Braun Strowman vs. The Miz & John Morrison
• Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka vs. Nia Jax (No Contest — double countout)
• Sheamus def. Jeff Hardy
• WWE Women’s Championship: Bayley & Sasha Banks def. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics
• The Vikings Raiders vs. The Street Profits (No Contest)