WWE News: AJ Styles Not Aligning With Karl Anderson And Luke Gallows At ‘WWE Payback’
If you’ve been keeping up with WWE programming as of late, you know the hottest debate going on with the WWE Universe is over AJ Styles and if Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are secretly working with him. We all know that Styles is good friends with both men, as they all spent time together as members of the Bullet Club faction in NJPW. When it was rumored that four NJPW stars would be coming to WWE, it was assumed by some that WWE would put at least these three men together once they arrived.
It made total sense, but the problem always came down to the fact that Finn Balor was still in play. Despite this, WWE has been teasing AJ Styles is involved with Anderson and Gallows, even if he tries to shrug it off as him not knowing what they are doing. Realistically, it makes sense for WWE to put all three together. However, the tease of it all is simply just smoke for the fire to truly be seen soon.
According to Cageside Seats, WWE has no plans to put Styles with Anderson and Gallows. It appears that WWE is trying to tease this so that the shocker will come about and people will take notice quickly. It seems as if WWE will be bringing up Finn Balor by WWE Payback or soon after. WWE has been planning to put Balor with Anderson and Gallows ever since they signed on the dotted line.
Finn Balor more than most has been teasing both their arrival and potential pairing with him. We all know that Balor is a huge tease and has been known as such for quite some time. You can never truly take his word for something, as he likes to trick people so that you don’t expect to see him when he finally does show up. WWE Payback does seem like the most obvious time to see him, but things could always change.
WWE did have Balor drop his NXT Title to Samoa Joe last week, which means they are clearly considering a call-up for him sooner rather than later. With both Anderson and Gallows already on the main roster, one would imagine that it wouldn’t make much sense for Finn Balor to remain in WWE NXT for much longer. He is still set to face off with Samoa Joe for the NXT Title in June at the next NXT Takeover event however.
The rumored plan for WWE Payback is that Anderson and Gallows will be involved in the main event in some way where AJ Styles will take on Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Title. They are set to cost AJ Styles the match after his last attempt to refuse their help. This would be the time we would see someone like Finn Balor show up if he is going to be used on Sunday at all. WWE wants to keep the title on Roman Reigns, so AJ will have to lose the match in some way.
If WWE has Styles lose it due to his friends, it allows AJ to look strong in that he didn’t lose cleanly. It also makes sure that Reigns remains champion without having to cleanly beat AJ Styles in Chicago in order to do it. This sort of gives WWE an “out,” if you will, to help Reigns out. He doesn’t have to cleanly beat AJ in a mark town to retain his championship, so the crowd hate won’t be as bad as it could be. Nor would the hate be directed mostly at him for retaining, but rather on Gallows and Anderson for costing AJ the match.
It also allows for the company to potentially debut Balor in front of a hot crowd. Reigns gets to sort of heel things up a bit without actually turning in all of this, as well, because the excuse would be that he needed someone else to help him beat Styles.
WWE Payback will be an interesting PPV, and the main event will certainly be worth watching just to see how it ends. Truthfully, WWE has done a fantastic job building this up and making us wonder what will occur. AJ Styles may not walk out champion, but he could be thrust into a major story regardless of the outcome.
[Image via WWE]
