WWE Rumor Mill: Possible reason why AJ Styles did not drop the title at MITB

What's the story?

Sunday night at Money in the Bank, AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura fought it out in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship. Though Nakamura was the odds on favourite to win the title heading in, Styles ended up retaining after a brutal match.

Now, Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer has reported about the possible reason behind this move by WWE.

In case you didn’t know…

The King of Strong Style won the Royal Rumble back in January this year, and immediately announced that he would be going after AJ Styles for the WWE Championship.

After the Phenomenal One managed to win at WrestleMania, Nakamura shockingly turned heel by hitting the Champion with a low blow after the match.

Their two subsequent matches at Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash ended in a no contest, and the culmination of the feud was announced to be a Last Man Standing match at MITB.

Many fans expected this to be Nakamura's crowning moment, but it was Styles who came out on top again.

The heart of the matter

Now Styles has been one of the most popular superstars on the entire roster ever since his arrival in WWE, and it is only fitting that he holds one of the top two Championships in the company.

Alvarez however reports that Styles retaining at MITB has more to do with the fact that he is on the cover of the latest instalment of the WWE video game - WWE 2K19 (thanks to RingsideNews for the transcript):

“You already turned him heel, he’s awesome as a heel [Nakamura]. Like do it [put the title on him] but they didn’t do it. It turns out that AJ Styles has been confirmed for the cover of WWE 2K19. That explains why he’s the champion. I was told last night.”

What's next?

We reported earlier that Nakamura might move on to a feud with the US Champion Jeff Hardy next.

Meanwhile, a Gauntlet match on SmackDown Live tonight will determine who will face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules.

Do you think Nakamura should have won at MITB? Have your say in the the comments.