When WWE announced that there was going to be three main events at Night of Champions, it should have been a red flag.

Now granted, promotions have duel main events and occasionally even triple main events on stacked cards, but when Bad Bunny versus Damian Priest “main evented” Backlash despite going on fifth on a card of seven matches, it signified that headlining a show and being a main event were two very different things.

So naturally, with three main events on Night of Champions, why not have AJ Styles versus Seth Rollins for the brand new WWE World Heavyweight Championship go first? I mean, to paraphrase WWE's own Ryan Satin, what better way to make the new belt feel on par with Roman Reigns' strap than to have it open the show?

Fortunately, the match was very good – how could a Rollins versus Styles match not be? – so that is at least somewhat forgiven.

Taking to the ring with a Jacksonville Jaguars-inspired ring outfit and the crowd clearly behind him, Rollins dictated the match's pace early on, working over Styles with a combination of hard hits and more punish big maneuvers. Styles then fought back, nailing Rollins into the turnbuckle, hitting him with a beautiful backflip DDT, and attempting to get a pin before his foe began fighting back with more purpose, hitting his signature buckle bomb.

Exchanging increasingly risky maneuvers in a match that was maybe a bit too slow-paced to be an all-time classic, the contest hit its apex when, after taking a shot to the back of the neck off the side of the ring apron, “The Visionary” fired back, thwarting a Phenomenal Forearm attempt with a suicide dive before tweaking his knee and getting locked into a calf crusher. Still, despite his clear pain, Rollins was able to exchange blows with Styles to an impressive degree, eating a Pedigree in the process, before picking “The Phenomenal One” out of the air with a superkick before hitting a Pedigree and a Stomp to secure the 1-2-3.

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Jon Moxley, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins in front of the WrestleMania 40 logo.

Matty Breisch ·

Jinder Mahal with a text bubble reading "So here's what happened" next to The Rock with the RAW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Jinder Mahal with a text bubble reading "Thanks Tony" next to Tony Khan with the RAW logo as the background.

Matty Breisch ·

Should the match have gone on at the end of the card? Yes, but do you know what? Seth Rollins got the win, and in the end, the match stood up to expectations.