AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin: WWE Championship Winner, Reaction

AJ Styles overcame two top challengers Tuesday night on SmackDown Live, as he successfully defended the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat match against Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin. 

Ziggler was down after Corbin hit End of Days. Before Corbin could capitalize, though, he caught a Phenomenal Forearm from Styles that knocked him out of the ring.

Styles pinned the prone Ziggler to retain his belt. WWE showed Styles holding his WWE world title:

WhatCultureWrestling is happy Styles will remain the champion heading in to next year:

Looking at the bigger picture, Upgruv's Justin LaBar thought Corbin benefited from getting such a high-profile match on SmackDown:

"

Nothing can substitute the experience and knowledge Baron Corbin is gaining in this main event match with Styles & Ziggler. #SDLive

— Justin LaBar (@JustinLaBar) December 28, 2016"

Styles will have little time to rest on his laurels. A match with John Cena beckons at the Royal Rumble on Jan. 29. Cena came down to the ring to make his intentions clear Tuesday night, courtesy of WWE:

The title match on the final episode of SmackDown in 2016 was initially supposed to pit The Phenomenal One against only Ziggler, but WWE threw a wrench in to those plans last week.

After The Showoff beat Dean Ambrose, The Miz and Luke Harper in a Fatal 4-Way Elimination match to earn the No. 1 contendership two weeks ago, Corbin entered the mix.

He claimed that Ziggler only won the match since Corbin wasn't involved in it, and The Lone Wolf taunted the former multitime intercontinental champion, via WWE Universe on Twitter:

Corbin even went so far as to suggest that Ziggler didn't deserve a chance to vie for the WWE Championship, as WWE Universe captured:

Styles defeated James Ellsworth in a quick match to retain his title earlier in the night, but he didn't have long to celebrate due to his impending championship defense on the Dec. 27 edition of SmackDown.

After getting run down by Corbin on the mic and laid out with an End of Days, Ziggler demanded that SmackDown general manager Daniel Bryan give him a match against the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner.

Bryan obliged with the caveat that Ziggler would have to put his title shot on the line, and he agreed despite the high stakes.

Styles was on commentary during the match, and at one point, Corbin threw Ziggler into him and knocked The Phenomenal One to the floor.

The bout was ruled a double count-out, at which point Styles assaulted both Superstars with a steel chair in retaliation.

Bryan then booked a Triple Threat WWE Championship match, which put Styles in a precarious position as the titleholder.

Styles had grown used to overcoming seemingly long odds, however, as he had previously defeated Ambrose and Cena in a Triple Threat match to retain the championship.

He called upon that experience in Tuesday's match and managed to escape with the belt in tow, but he remains a marked man heading toward the Royal Rumble.

Listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot wrestling topics. Catch the latest episode in the player below (warning: some language NSFW).

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.