The storyline implications surrounding Roman Reigns' match against AJ Styles this Sunday are perhaps more highly-anticipated than the actual bout itself.
The reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion will defend his gold against "The Phenomenal One" live from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. at Payback. There is a lot of intrigue surrounding the newcomers to the WWE, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
There are several different endings that could happen at Payback, and it's likely some sort of outside interference will occur come Sunday. Anderson and Gallows, who used to be in the Bullet Club with Styles, have formed an allegiance with the No. 1 contender for the richest prize in the game on WWE television in recent weeks.
Anderson helped the speculation of possibly getting involved in the main event by tweeting on Thursday that he can't wait to watch Styles win the title:
My bro @AJStylesOrg won the IWGP Title in Fukuoka, Japan on May 3, 2014
2 years later I plan to watch him become @Wwe champion #WWEPayback— Karl Anderson (@Machinegunka) April 28, 2016
That tweet can be construed in various ways. Perhaps Anderson just wants to watch from the back, but it's more likely the WWE will have him and Gallows get physically involved. It's possible they could help Styles end Reigns' run with the gold, or they could fail in helping him by being thwarted off by The Usos.
One other intriguing possibility could see Anderson and Gallows turn on Styles. Perhaps this tweet is just another way for the WWE to oversell the friendship between Styles and his comrades in order to make their betrayal of him more of a shock.
Reigns works better as a wrestler in a stable, as evidenced by his Shield days, and since he isn't remotely getting over with the majority of the WWE Universe, turning him heel could at least add an interesting wrinkle to his title win. He makes sense as the third Bullet Club member.
It's also possible that Gallows and Anderson won't factor into Sunday's proceedings at all, but that would be a major let down. It's unlikely Reigns will drop the belt just one month after winning it.
As great as it is to see Styles have a high-profile main event match, it is overshadowed by the intrigue of what's in store for his former New Japan buddies come Payback.
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