Humberto Carrillo finally pinned AJ Styles last week, but the young talent isn’t exactly about to get hot-shotted to the United States Title anytime soon. Under the pretense of punishing Carrillo for his “disrespect,” Styles instead sent his good brother Karl Anderson to deal with his rival, a move he surely hoped would expose Humberto as a one-and-done wonder. Instead, however, the 205 Live draftee picked up a surprising surplus of cache and a stronger case to potentially once again challenge Styles.
To be fair, there was one element that proved key to Carrillo’s victory besides dimples and a can-do attitude: The presence of The Street Profits, who served as a check on Styles and Luke Gallows and essentially kept the match from turning into Carrillo against the entire O.C. And when Styles & Gallows tried to get involved by distracting the ref, the Profits engaged in a bit of turnabout, with Montez Ford reversing Anderson’s ill-gotten small package in Humberto’s favor while Angelo Dawkins held Gallows at bay. That was enough to snuff “Hot Karl’s” efforts, and as for Humberto, he has now pinned the champ and one half of the best tag team in the world. If it’s a title match he wants, he’s got a leg to stand on.