AJ Styles is ready to make his way back to the top of WWE, although he agrees that Raw’s new title feels secondary to an extent.
On May 27th in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, WWE will present Night of Champions, with the show set to feature a bout between Seth Rollins and AJ Styles to crown an inaugural WWE World Heavyweight Champion, a title created as a result of Roman Reigns being drafted to Smackdown with the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, and thus will serve as Raw’s top prize.
AJ Styles recently spoke to the New York Post ahead of his match with Rollins, where he addressed whether or not he believes the title feels secondary to the titles currently held by Reigns. The leader of the OC stated that it’s hard to argue against that claim considering the circumstances surrounding the belt’s creation.
“Is it a secondary? Well if the Raw championship is held by Roman, the SmackDown championship is held by Roman, then how can you argue that it’s not? We had to make a new championship because Roman holds them all. What happens if he decides to wrestle for the World Heavyweight championship? It is what it is, and we got what we got. If we make the best of it, and if and when Roman does challenge [for it], we beat the brakes off of him, whomever it might be, then we’ll see what title’s secondary.”
-AJ Styles
Whilst Styles is looking forward to proving once again that he can be a workhose world champion, he also stated that he doesn’t begrudge Roman Reigns for his schedule, even going as far to claim he’d take the same deal if he could.
“This is what you want to do. This is what you want to be. This is what you’re trying to get to in your career. I’m not mad at him. I told him, ‘If I could do it, I would, but I’m not Roman Reigns.’”
-AJ Styles
Elsewhere during Night of Champions, Cody Rhodes will once again take on Brock Lesnar in a rematch of their encounter at Backlash, whilst Bianca Belair will put her Raw Women’s Championship on the line against Asuka.
Whilst Roman Reigns isn’t scheduled to defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, he will compete on the show, as he and his Bloodline stablemate Solo Sikoa look to capture Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship gold from Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.