AJ Styles made Roman Reigns' legs his primary target in the early going. He kicked at Reigns' hamstrings, flustering the world champ.
The Big Dog then began to overpower Styles. He smashed Styles with high-impact moves that rattled the ring.
Styles' speed and agility edge allowed him to keep Reigns off balance, though.
After it looked like Styles won via count-out, Shane McMahon walked out and restarted the match, adding a no-count-out stipulation.
Reigns then hit Styles with a low blow, earning a disqualification. Stephanie McMahon followed her brother's lead, barring any disqualifications.
That opened the door for Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to save Styles. They double-teamed Reigns, leaving him lying in the ring. The Usos charged out to even the odds.
After a chaotic last few minutes, Reigns hit a spear to close out the contest.
Reigns wins via pinfall to remain champion.
Memorable Moments and Quotes
Fans chant "Roman sucks!" and "You can't wrestle!" at Reigns.
Styles counters a Superman Punch with a kick to the head.
Styles sends Reigns through a table with a Phenomenal Forearm.
Reigns throws Styles onto The Usos, Gallows and Anderson.
Reigns counters a Phenomenal Forearm with a Superman Punch.
Styles hits a springboard 450 splash.
Good pacing, creative booking and foot-on-the-pedal efforts from Reigns and Styles made this the best match of the night. The subplot of the bout was that these two proved they belonged in their current positions. Styles looked right at home under the bright lights; Reigns delivered despite a hostile crowd.
This matchup needed to make use of several moving parts and did just that.
While some may view the McMahons' role as overbooking, the title match ended up being the right mix of chaos and action, of unexpected twists and big moments in the ring.
WWE announced that these two will go at it again at Extreme Rules. That's the right move. Not only did Reigns and Styles show they thrive together, but also weaving in Gallows and Anderson more into this storyline has a lot of potential.
