Seth Rollins Defeats AJ Styles, Wins World Heavyweight Title At WWE Night Of Champions

WWE made the somewhat unusual move to kickoff its Night of Champions premium live event today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with the finals of a tournament to crown the first World Heavyweight Champion. Representing "WWE Raw" in the match was Seth "Freakin" Rollins, while "WWE SmackDown" was represented by AJ Styles. It's been a while since either man held a World Championship in WWE, and with both men being fan favorites, there were many among the WWE universe who would have been happy with either possible outcome.

On this day though, "The Visionary" ultimately emerged victorious, sealing the deal with a Pedigree followed by a running Stomp down on Styles' head. Rollins was presented with his prize by WWE CCO Paul "Triple H" Levesque. Notably, it's unclear how (or even if) Rollins will be a part of the post-Night of Champions "Raw" episode on Monday night. Due to his filming commitments on "Captain America: New World Order," Rollins has missed the last two "Raw" tapings, only appearing in pre-recorded segments. If Rollins continues to be absent, it will look a bit strange, as Triple H previously promised fans that the new champion would appear consistently on WWE shows, unlike Roman Reigns.

Becoming WWE's new World Heavyweight Champion marks Rollins' first World Championship reign since an 81-day run with the Universal Championship in the second half of 2019, a reign he began by defeating Brock Lesnar at that year's SummerSlam. Had Styles prevailed, WWE had previously confirmed that "The Phenomenal One" would be sent over to "Raw," but that will now obviously not be a concern.