Seth Rollins reflects on his match against AJ Styles at WWE Night of Champions.
Styles and Rollins clashed in the finals of a tournament for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Night of Champions, and “The Visionary” scored the hard-fought victory to walk away with the gold.
On the May 31 episode of WWE’s The Bump, Rollins discussed his match against Styles and described how he felt like the title was made for them to fight for.
“There’s no better way to kick off a new championship, in my opinion. AJ Styles, one of the best to ever do it, unquestionably first-ballot Hall of Famer. He has still got it. He’s better than he’s ever been, so to go out there with him, Night of Champions, for the first time for this title was really special. You could really tell how much it meant to him in the moment. He brought the fight to me pretty hard. It couldn’t have been anybody else.
“I think the title was destined for myself and AJ Styles to fight for, and I’m glad it was him. Glad I got the victory, but he did give it everything he got. Mad respect for The Phenomenal One.”
Later in the interview, Rollins elaborated on how the match meant a lot to him, as he has been a fan of styles for a long time, and they have history that dates back nearly 20 years.
“It felt very special. AJ and I have an extremely long history in the ring,” Rollins said. “More importantly, our history goes as long as I’ve known who AJ Styles was because I was a fan of AJ Styles before I stepped foot in a wrestling ring. So I’ve been watching him, I’ve been admiring him, I’ve patterned my style after him. I told commentary this on Saturday, I said he’s the perfect wrestler. He’s perfect. He has been for so many years.
” He takes in every single thing that he touches. So no matter where he goes or whoever he works with, he’s able to just take in [and] sponge up information and retain it and become one of the greatest of all time. So I’ve been able to learn from him, been able to fight with him. We’ve had an incredible history in the ring. Any time we touch, it’s magic, and I was really happy that we got to do this at Night of Champions for a new title. It meant a lot to me and I hope it meant as much to him.”
Check out the card for the June 5 episode of WWE RAW here. WrestleZone will have coverage of the show as it airs.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit the original source and link back to WrestleZone with an h/t for the transcription.
