AJ Styles Hopes Sami Zayn Doesn’t Become a Transitional Champion

AJ Styles is happy to see Sami Zayn’s Undisputed WWE Championship win, but he hopes that Zayn isn’t a “flip-flop” of a title reign. Zayn of course won the title at WWE Night of Champions and is set to defend it against Cody Rhodes on tomorrow’s WWE Raw. There has been speculation that Zayn could lose the title back to Rhodes to set up a feud between Rhodes and CM Punk for SummerSlam.

Styles spoke about Zayn’s win on Phenomenally Retro and said that he hopes Zayn doesn’t have a transitional reign, noting there’s “magic to be made” there. You can see the highlights below”

On Being Hopeful For the Win:

“So, there was the ‘what if?’ in there, that was the unexpected and kind of got me excited about the PLE to begin with. Just us talking about that PLE got me excited about the ‘what ifs,’ right? And the biggest one happened with Sami Zayn, for sure.”

On Zayn’s Win:

“I hate to think that this was something that is going to be a flip-flop. We don’t necessarily do that, it’s not good for business. But what’s the next step? I’m not really sure, which makes it very interesting. It’s ‘what is going to happen next with Sami Zayn?’ Because you know SummerSlam, one of the big four pay-per-views or PLEs if you will, he’s going to be defending it, right? Who is that against? That’s the story, like, ‘Who’s it going to be?’ Is it going to be Gunther? Is it gonna be Cody? Is there somebody else? Is it Bron? I don’t know.”

On Zayn’s Title Reign:

“I don’t want to see a transitional champion. I think that Sami’s more than capable of pulling off being a world champion and totally being the underdog here. But I don’t know what the next part of the story is. The great thing about that is, that’s a good thing and that keeps me interested in what’s going to happen in the buildup to SummerSlam. That’s a good thing where I’m not so sure what’s going to happen.

“And you got people worried about that Sami’s just going to be a transitional champion, he’s gonna win it just to lose it to who knows. I don’t think that is the best way to go about doing the storyline. I think there’s some magic to be made, and I wish I was smart enough to figure it out. But I’m glad I’m not because I want to enjoy wrestling.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Phenomenally Retro with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.