Opinion: WWE should've held off on AJ Styles challenging for the Universal Championship

When AJ Styles and Roman Reigns essentially switched spots during the Superstar Shake Up, it was a much-needed move. Styles had feuded with the majority of the SmackDown roster while Reigns had done the same on Raw.

Since the two superstars moved brands, a lot of eyes turned to potential feuds for two of the biggest stars WWE has to offer on their new shows. The most obvious one for Styles was a much talked about dream match with Seth Rollins, the current Universal Champion.

While it is a dream match for the ages, WWE could have truly given it some time before Styles was directly thrust into a title match for the Universal Championship. I'll admit, I definitely want to see Styles and Rollins in a big-stakes match, but the shake up just happened.

Styles vs. Rollins is the type of match that should be headlining SummerSlam or WrestleMania. Although Money in the Bank is one of the bigger PPVs throughout the year, a match of that magnitude should have been built more for one of the bigger shows of the year.

The main point is that WWE is giving it away right off the bat rather than building to it over a few months. Just like Reigns on SmackDown, Styles should be given some feuds prior to challenging for the Universal Championship. He dominated the scene on SmackDown and like Charlotte Flair and Reigns, needs time away from the main title scene in order to help build up some other superstars first.

Styles is one of the top three or four superstars in the company, and he was going to get a title shot at some point this year. But, instead of building up to it and teasing the inevitable showdown and growing the anticipation for it, WWE just rushed into it. Who actually thinks that Styles is going to walk away fro MITB with the championship?

The stakes of the match would have been a lot higher had WWE waited to pair the two together. Rollins just won the title at WrestleMania 35 so there's a very small chance that he is going to drop the title so soon from after triumphing over Brock Lesnar. Waiting to have the match would have added a more intrigue and belief that Styles could win the title.

But since the match is happening literally as Rollins' first feud over the title, any chance that Styles has at winning the title is likely out the window. He's someone who could and should eventually win it, but Rollins should have dispatched of some other challengers, like Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre first.

Instead, Rollins winning is likely a given whereas had the match been kept on the backburner until SummerSlam, a bit of the aura and mystique of this dream match would not have evaporated. Throwing the two biggest faces on Raw against each other right after the Show of Shows is a strange dynamic. I'm not saying it won't be a great match and that I'm not looking forward to it, just that the timing could have been a lot better.

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