The story of Roman Reigns and AJ Styles, who will square off for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in less than two weeks at WWE Payback, has taken an emphatic turn to say the least.
We saw AJ secure his role as the no. 1 contender to the company’s holy grail the night after WrestleMania, but with the introduction of Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows on Raw just seven days later, speculation was running high with regards to whether or not they would take an interest in AJ’s upcoming title shot. Well, we’ve got our answer.
This week, Anderson and Gallows took aim at a much bigger fish than The Usos, instead taking out their cousin and the reigning champion, Roman Reigns with a vicious boot to the skull. With this attack, there’s only one question on everyone’s mind; did AJ Styles put his buddies up to it?
The booking certainly seems to point in that direction. It’s doubtful that the debut of Anderson and Gallows, the two men who signed with WWE at the same time as Styles and who have unquestionable history with ‘The Phenomenal One’, took place just a week after AJ was named the next challenger for the WWE World Title.
AJ Styles would certainly have motive to bring in the big guns if he felt he needed help, and the fact that Gallows and Anderson didn’t do as much damage to Reigns as they could have suggests that they were keeping him healthy to for Payback. It comes at an unusual time, as Styles has been in talks to become one of the company’s top babyfaces, but it wouldn’t be unusual for the WWE to swerve us for the element of surprise.
If Bullet Club is going to be a dominant force in the WWE at some stage, potentially with the inclusion of Finn Bálor to sweeten the pot, they would need to be a heel faction in order to fully achieve their potential. Just imagine the scene if Styles, Anderson, Gallows and Bálor stood tall after the main event of Payback with Styles holding the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It would cheapen Reigns’ WrestleMania victory but it would certainly be a change in flavour from what we’re used to seeing in the main event picture.
Finn Bálor would be best kept out of the loop for now though, either to debut as part of the faction at a later date or to even go against them, because it wouldn’t be smart to have one of the brightest prospects on the WWE’s payroll play second fiddle to somebody else so soon after his debut. It is most certainly a possibility though, especially if the company wants to make Bullet Club’s infiltration the primary story of the summer.
Right now both AJ Styles and Roman Reigns are playing the hero; Reigns as the powerhouse with a vow to protect his family no matter what, and Styles as the ambitious challenger with a desire to please the fans and achieve greatness, acting none the wiser when it comes to Anderson and Gallows’ attacks.
But this needs to result in a big payoff, and the only way it can truly be rewarding is if somebody turns heel. As mentioned, the potential is most certainly there for AJ Styles to turn and reveal his grand plot to take over the WWE, starting with the World Heavyweight Championship, but the WWE can’t keep lying to themselves. Roman Reigns is just not working as a babyface, and it’s clear from the shift in his character that there’s a change brewing.
His “I’m not a good guy, I’m not a bad guy, I’m the guy” act, paired with the fact that he no longer enters the arena through the crowd seems to be laying the foundations for a major heel turn.
He does get cheered by the younger members of the audience, but those kids aren’t the people you hear every week. Roman is met with a chorus of boos whenever his music plays and now that the company’s desired WrestleMania outcome has come to fruition, it’s time for them to come back to reality and adapt accordingly.
As great as it would be to see Styles lead Bullet Club (or any variation of the name to avoid copyright infringement) to greatness in the WWE, the man who needs to turn heel for the sake of the product is Roman Reigns. At this stage it seems more like a matter of ‘when’ than ‘if’.
So how does it all take place? Well I see it going down as follows:
The referee is incapacitated towards the end of a tremendously hard-fought battle between in the main event of WWE Payback, when Gallows and Karl Anderson hit the ring once again to presumably lay waste to the champion and aid their friend to victory. But instead, they turn on Styles and beat him down, allowing Reigns to capture the victory. I’ll stress that they’re not helping Roman win, they’re just ensuring that Styles loses.
They explain their actions the following night on Raw, detailing how Styles turned his back on them to head to the big leagues, motivating them to make the trek to WWE and exact revenge. Meanwhile, Reigns continues to hint at a heel turn, which finally results in him becoming a full-blown heel champion leading into his match at Extreme Rules, regardless of who his opponent is.
The story would be quite similar to Kevin Owens’ debut in NXT where he turned on Sami Zayn. It would allow AJ Styles to continue raising up the popularity ladder and become a top star in the company, and would stop any talk of a heel Roman Reigns being the new leader of Bullet Club, which nobody would want to see.
I know a lot of fans would like to see Styles and Bullet Club on the same page, but I just don’t think that would work with the way Styles has been booked. Gallows and Anderson may either have to remain as a tag-team or find a new leader in someone like Finn Bálor, which would be a much more fitting role for him at the forefront.
No matter what happens, something big needs to happen and I personally think it’ll result in the beginning of a feud between Bullet Club and AJ Styles, as well as the further degradation of Roman Reigns as a babyface.
It would undoubtedly make for some intriguing storylines heading into the summer months of 2016.
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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