WWE Raw: Why AOP Needs To Align With Seth Rollins

The big story coming out of WWE Raw was Seth Rollins’ much-needed character transition. AOP teased attacking Rollins before destroying Kevin Owens but this story should lead to an alliance between the former Tag Champs and “The Beast Slayer”.

AOP is far removed from their amazing run as the WWE NXT Tag Team Champions, and despite being former Raw Tag Team Champions, overall they haven’t had as much success as they did on the black and yellow brand.

Part of this is due to mishandling. Inexplicably throwing Paul Ellering out of the mix did them no favors up until Drake Maverick joined the fold not too long after.

Injuries have also played a part in delaying their trajectory as Akam was reportedly sidelined with a knee injury at the beginning of the year.

Beyond a series of vignettes, AOP hadn’t done anything that could be argued as substantial up until Monday.

Enter Seth Rollins.

Rollins’ tirade against the entire Raw roster included AOP, as the former Universal Champion chastised them for not making a bigger impact at Survivor Series despite their promise to bring violence..

AOP retaliated by interrupting Rollins’ match against Kevin Owens. While it appeared that AOP were going to divide and conquer against both men, Owens struck Akam first and drew Rezar over to aid his partner in the process. Rollins was left unharmed, creating speculation for how the next few weeks will play out.

Was this as simple as AOP sending a message to Seth Rollins, or did Raw foreshadow a dangerous partnership?  For Rollins’ and AOP’s sake, it should be the latter.

J&J Security was easily one of the highlights—albeit heavily comedic—of Rollins’ initial run on top. However, with so much time having passed since then and a lot of character damage done, Rollins needs a serious supporting act to be considered a formidable presence going forward and fulfill his mission of fixing Raw.

The vital 180 that Rollins underwent means nothing if the follow through ends up being subpar. As far as assuring that won’t happen, Akam and Rezar are solid choices.

Despite AOP’s documented misuse, they are nowhere close to being too far gone to benefit from aligning with Rollins. Rollins can function as AOP’s latest mouthpiece while the duo would serve as his muscle, an essential role with him having painted a big target on his back by criticizing the entire roster.

With AOP potentially backing Rollins, it creates a longer story arc for Kevin Owens—in the midst of a resurgent year—to defeat the man that was questioning his loyalty to Team Red all along while looking great in the process.

If this alliance is going to maximize its potential though, AOP must look like legitimate threats instead of two glorified bodyguards whose sole purpose is to eat pins and submissions so Rollins doesn’t have to.

Next week’s WWE Raw should add some more insight into the relationship between Seth Rollins and AOP, and while the tease is certainly creating intrigue, pulling the trigger on this alliance is the best possible outcome for all involved.