5 possible feuds for AJ Styles if he retains the WWE title against Samoa Joe

AJ Styles won the WWE Championship from Jinder Mahal last year in November. Ever since winning the title, Styles has defended it against multiple opponents like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, John Cena etc.

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Recently Styles became the longest reigning World Champion exclusive to Smackdown Brand, breaking a 13-year old record set by John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL). Now that, AJ Styles’ reign nearing 300 days and the WWE 2K19 game approaching its release date, WWE Universe believes that AJ Styles’ reign is about to come to an end.

Right now, it looks like the Phenomenal One would drop his title to Samoa Joe on the 1000th episode of Smackdown Live.

Styles has enjoyed a successful run as a WWE Champion but every Championship reign has to end at some point and Joe looks like the perfect candidate to take the strap away from Styles.

If, however, Styles ends up coming out on top in his feud against Samoa Joe, there are still a lot of feuds left for the Phenomenal One as the WWE Champion that would keep his reign fresh and interesting.

Here, we will discuss five possible feuds for the WWE Champion if he retains against Joe.

#5 Universal Champion at Survivor Series

WWE Champion AJ Styles battled the Universal Champion Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series last year

For the past two years, Survivor Series has been promoted as an event featuring a battle of the brands (Raw and Smackdown Live).

While Survivor Series 2016 featured just three inter-brand matches, last year’s Survivor Series featured seven Raw vs. Smackdown Live matches.

The event also featured WWE Champion vs. Universal Champion, as Styles faced off against Brock Lesnar.

If Styles holds on to his title until this year’s Survivor Series, we can see him face off against the Universal Champion, either Roman Reigns or Braun Strowman.

Now, if Raw is being represented by a top superstar like Reigns or Strowman, Smackdown Live needs to be represented by the superstar who “built the house” that is called Smackdown Live.

#4 Jeff Hardy

Hardy could be eyeing the WWE title next

Styles and Jeff Hardy have never collided in a WWE ring before. Both of these superstars are known for their out-of-the-ordinary moves in the ring. Both of these superstars put on amazing matches on a weekly basis, even after adopting a limited style, preferred by WWE.

Hardy moved from Raw to Smackdown Live in April, this year and until now, he has only feuded with the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton.

If Styles can hold on to his title for some months, maybe we can see a short feud between the Charismatic Enigma and the Phenomenal One for the WWE Championship. The WWE Universe would have a tough time in choosing sides.

#3 The Miz

The Miz returned to Smackdown Live after a year on Raw

The Miz has been on a roll since 2016. He has constantly delivered amazing promos, and almost all of his story-lines have been really interesting.

The Miz is good in the ring too but his promo work hypes his matches. The Miz could be feuding with anyone and he would make it look like a personal story-line e.g. Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan etc. The Miz’s impressive work in the last two years has really made him deserving for another World Title run down the line.

Currently, The Miz is feuding with Bryan but their match at WWE’s mega event, Super Show-down on October 6th is for a WWE title opportunity so if The Miz wins that match, the Bryan/Miz feud could be paused for some time and he could feud with Styles for the WWE title for the remainder of the year.

#2 Daniel Bryan

Daniel Bryan has been a major part of Smackdown Live since returning to in-ring competition this year

It makes no sense to miss out on Daniel Bryan’s name while mentioning The Miz. Bryan came out of retirement earlier this year. His return showed that he is still over with the fans like he was four years ago.

Bryan and The Miz have been feuding on and off for the last eight years and it doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon but as mentioned above, the feud could be paused for some time to let one man win the WWE title so that their epic feud could conclude with a WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania.

Bryan is perhaps one of the few superstars on the main roster to be more over than Styles. A feud between the two fan-favorites would be interesting to see.

We got to see a match between Styles and Bryan earlier this year but the match was cut short because of outside interference.

Bryan and Styles put on an amazing match then and it sure is a guarantee that they could tear the house down together once again if they feud with each other down the line and that too for the WWE Championship.

#1 Randy Orton

Orton's heel turn this year was a good move for his career

Randy Orton had a short and lacklustre reign as the WWE Champion last year which ended in a month.

Orton doesn’t click as a babyface and although he remains as one of the last full-time performers from the Ruthless Aggression era, his presence merely made any difference last year.

Orton needed a serious change in his character to be the top superstar once again, a status that he truly deserves due to his devotion to WWE.

The Viper took some time off earlier this year to deal with some knee issues. Orton made a surprise return at Extreme Rules after Jeff Hardy’s match with Shinsuke Nakamura.

Orton turned heel in a devastating way and attacked Hardy. Following Extreme Rules, Orton brutally attacked Hardy on several occasions and the feud is supposed to last for a few months.

According to Orton, he had been performing in WWE for more than 16 years and while everyone left, he stayed but still he didn’t get the respect he deserved so he would destroy every fan-favourite superstar.

Orton’s new character seems interesting and fresh and is going over with the fans too. A feud with Styles, for the Championship or not, seems highly possible down the line as the Phenomenal One is highly cheered by the fans on a weekly basis.

If the feud involves the WWE title too, then it would mean much more as Styles would have so much to lose, which would raise the stakes much higher.