AJ Styles vs. Cedric Alexander United States Championship Match Booked for WWE Raw Season Premiere

It looks like the feud between AJ Styles and Cedric Alexander isn't over. WWE announced on [...]

By Connor Casey

It looks like the feud between AJ Styles and Cedric Alexander isn't over. WWE announced on Wednesday that the reigning United States Champion would have to defend his title against Alexander on the Sept. 30 episode of Monday Night Raw, which WWE is referring to as the show's "season premiere." The feud between the two kicked off when Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson jumped Alexander before his match with Baron Corbin in the King of the Ring tournament's quarterfinals. Alexander responded by going after Styles, and managed to pick up a pinfall victory over the champ during a 10-man tag match when Raw returned to Madison Square Garden in early September.

However Alexander's first attempt at winning the title went poorly, as Styles was able to beat him in dominant fashion in less than five minutes at during the Clash of Champions kickoff show. Styles pinned Alexander again in a six-man tag match the following night, leading to reports popping up claiming that WWE creative was reportedly looking to "bury" Alexander by having him lose over and over. But Alexander got a modicum of revenge on Monday when he attacked Styles at ringside during a tag match between The O.C. and the Viking Raiders.

As a former Ring of Honor wrestler, Alexander first broke out in the WWE as a member of the Cruiserweight Division. In early 2018 he advanced his way through a single elimination tournament and defeated Ali at WrestleMania 34 to capture the vacated Cruiserweight Championship, a title he'd hold for 181 days before dropping it to Buddy Murphy at Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia.

Styles turned heel back in July during a feud with Ricochet that helped him capture the US title and reform The O.C. (formerly known as The Club) with Gallows and Anderson. Since then he's managed to retain the title in matches against Ricochet and Braun Strowman before turning his attention to Alexander.

Elsewhere on the season premiere, Seth Rollins will defend his WWE Universal Championship against Rey Mysterio just six days before his Hell in a Cell match with "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt. Given Wyatt's propensity to attack legends on Raw, Mysterio will likely join his list of Mandible Claw victims at some point during the show.

Next week will also see SmackDown officially make the jump to FOX on Oct. 4.

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