Sacrificing everything for the WWE Championship

WWE Championship Match

AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe

AJ Styles has held the WWE Championship for the entirety of 2018. He’s put down all comers, including Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, Shinsuke Nakamura, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Shinsuke Nakamura. Paige decided it was time to name a new contender to challenge Styles for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. AJ Styles signed his name on the contract, and that’s when we were all graced by his old nemesis James Ellsworth.

Ellsworth interrupted Paige’s announcement and reminded everybody that he owns AJ Styles. Paige immediately dismissed Ellsworth’s demand for a WWE Championship match and called him a joke. Ellsworth responded by tossing a bunch of insults at Paige, and so she fired him. As Ellsworth was being forced out of the building, Samoa Joe ambushed Styles from behind and choked him out. Joe signed his name on the contract and revealed that he will be the man facing Styles for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

Samoa Joe then made things deeply personal the following week when he said he respects the sacrifices AJ has made to turn the WWE Championship into the most prestigious title in WWE. But the reality of the situation is that those sacrifices include being a failure as a father. Joe claimed that AJ is barely home long enough to hug his family and that Styles is actually much more comfortable living on the road out of a suitcase. AJ values the title more than his own family, so AJ’s family will actually be rooting like hell for Joe to put AJ to sleep at SummerSlam so that daddy can finally come home.

The champ responded to Joe’s claims one week later. Styles acknowledged that he’s away from home over 200 days a year and his wife of 18 years is basically a single parent. But the truth is that he makes those sacrifices for the benefit of his family and to give his kids what they need, which is what he’s supposed to do as a father. Styles expressed disappointment that Joe would disparage him as a father, because the two of them used to share a roach-infested apartment together and Joe knows AJ’s wife and kids. But with one quick interview, Joe threw away a decade of friendship. AJ declared that not only is Joe not walking out of SummerSlam as WWE Champion, he’ll be lucky to walk out at all. Samoa Joe was shown backstage laughing while AJ was verbally laying it on him.

It was clear that Samoa Joe successfully got under AJ’s skin, but Joe wouldn’t simply let things stand there. One week later, he revealed a letter that was allegedly written by AJ’s wife, Wendy. The letter claimed that the things Samoa Joe said were vile and disgusting because they were grounded in the truth. It’s clear that AJ doesn’t want a wife or children. That’s why he’s such a great champion, because he’ll do whatever it takes to stay away from his family.

Not surprisingly, Styles wanted to rip Joe apart in response to that outrageous stunt.

Considering where this story is going, the WWE Championship match at SummerSlam between AJ Styles and Samoa Joe could very well turn out to be a wild brawl rather than a technical wrestling classic.

Find out which superstar walks out as WWE Champion by tuning into SummerSlam 2018 and keeping it right here at Cageside Seats!