A story about building things up and burning them down

Universal championship match

Seth Rollins (c) vs. AJ Styles

One of the biggest roster changes of the 2019 Superstar Shakeup was unveiled on the Apr. 15 episode of Raw when AJ Styles came out as a mystery partner for Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. It was official - Styles was now a member of the Raw roster.

The Phenomenal One spent the better part of the last three years turning SmackDown Live into the House That AJ Styles Built. It’s now clear that he plans to work his ass off every Monday night to build that same foundation of excellence on Raw.

Styles wasted no time, winning two separate matches on the Apr. 22 Raw in order to earn a Universal championship match against Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank. Rollins came out to offer Styles a congratulatory handshake, a clear sign of respect between two elite athletes.

But things quickly devolved from there. The trash talk began one week later during a contract signing. This time AJ eventually offered his hand to Seth, but Rollins decided to ignore the gesture and instead held up the Universal title right in AJ’s face. This incited a brawl which resulted in Rollins eating a Phenomenal Forearm right through a table.

Rollins and Styles were forced to team up one week later, and shockingly, it didn’t go well. AJ Styles was poised to strike Baron Corbin with a Phenomenal Forearm, but the Lone Wolf moved out of the way at the last second. The end result was that Rollins was blasted with yet another one right in his kisser. Styles reacted to this mistake in suspicious fashion, by walking out of the ring and ditching his partner. So...was it really a mistake after all?

After taking AJ’s best shot in consecutive weeks, Seth Rollins doesn’t really give a damn if that last blow was intentional or not. The Architect is fired up and said he plans to give AJ a receipt in the form of two black eyes and a broken face.

This is essentially a dream match, the first time ever that Rollins and Styles will meet one-on-one in a WWE ring on pay-per-view. The stakes couldn’t be much higher, as the Universal championship hangs in the balance. Will AJ Styles demonstrate to the world that Monday Night Rollins is a thing of the past, or will Rollins burn AJ’s plan right down to the ground?

Find out which man walks out with the gold by tuning into Money in the Bank 2019 and keeping it right here at Cageside Seats!