After the success of his previous United States Title Open Challenge, R-Truth decided that, despite being exhausted after retaining the championship last week, he would give it another whirl Tuesday night on SmackDown LIVE. At first it appeared that the “Sassy Southern Belle” Lacey Evans was answering the call, but, as she often does, Evans simply was gracing the “nasties” of the WWE Universe with her presence. From there, who actually answered the call was Samoa Joe … and Rey Mysterio … and Andrade. Fatal 4-Way Match, anyone?

The action was furious, with all four Superstars showing out in hopes of leaving with the historic United States Championship. In the height of the action, Mysterio was able to break up a Coquina Clutch that Joe had locked on Truth by connecting with a picture-perfect 619 on both Superstars. This led to a melee that saw all four Superstars land on the outside, with Andrade brutally powerbombing Mysterio onto the floor. Then, behind the referee’s back, Zelina Vega struck Truth with a hurricanrana from the apron, taking the U.S. Champion out. Carmella would not stand for that, however, dropping Vega with a superkick immediately afterward. With Vega down, it appeared that Mysterio was going to be able to thrive through the chaos, seemingly having Andrade on the ropes, but Joe eliminated Rey from contention by sandwiching him onto Andrade, then sealed the deal by drilling Andrade with a ring-rattling Yurinagi for the first championship victory of his WWE career.