Former champion breaks silence following WWE SmackDown, further teasing epic rivalry with The Bloodline after seven years

While Roman Reigns has been off WWE television of late, his cousins Solo Sikoa, Jimmy, and Jey Uso have been featured heavily on weekly programming. On SmackDown this past Friday night, The Street Champion picked up a massive victory over the Phenomenal One, AJ Styles.

The match took place after The OC got into a brief argument backstage. The Good Brothers were hesitant to get involved with The Bloodline despite Mia Yim addressing that they apparently disrespected her, but Styles insisted.

Karl Anderson has now shared a post on Instagram, calling back to the segment. The former RAW Tag Team Champion claimed he was trying to persuade his stablemates to partake in "Happy Hour."

"Like @the_biglg [Doc Gallows] n I said “no need to get involved in the #BloodLine stuff, it was #HappyHour down the street!"" Anderson wrote.

Perhaps this may have been WWE's way of subtly planting the seeds for The Tribal Chief's next challenger.

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AJ Styles on facing Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns

In 2016, AJ Styles was the "hottest free agent," who arrived at the Stamford-based promotion in January. He was the third entrant in the Royal Rumble match and straight away stepped into the ring with then-WWE Champion Roman Reigns.

Later that year, they had a full-blown rivalry involving The Good Brothers and even The Usos. Styles recently spoke about The Tribal Chief during an interview with the New York Post:

"It’s definitely gotten to a point where he and I have to get back in the ring," Styles said. "It’s a long way from 2016. Things have changed. It would be nice to see that match come back around." [H/T: NY Post]

By 2020, The Phenomenal One was a multi-time champion in WWE, with two world title reigns under his belt. He credited Roman Reigns during an interview with Sun Sport for the success he has experienced since arriving at the Stamford-based promotion:

"You have this indie guy in 2016. This guy from Japan just walked right in there and step in the ring with Roman Reigns. Now the perfect scenario was in place because not everybody loved Roman. Now he is definitely one of the biggest stars but not everyone loved Roman then [...] So, yeah, Roman Reigns is a big part of the reason why my career’s where it’s at," Styles said. [H/T: SunSport]

It seems a large section of the fanbase has already gone bonkers at the prospect of a Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles feud in 2023. Check it out here.

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Are you looking forward to a potential world title feud between these two all-timers? Sound off in the comments section below.