AJ Styles has showered praise on Night of Champions opponent Seth Rollins, saying The Visionary is "on top of the world" but "only going to get better".
Styles and Rollins meet in a mouthwatering bout to crown a new world heavyweight champion after both won their respective Smackdown and Raw brackets of a tournament put on by chief content officer Triple H.
The Phenomenal One, having been out on the sidelines with a broken ankle suffered in December, made a big splash by knocking off Hall of Famers Edge and Rey Mysterio, before defeating Bobby Lashley in a semi-final singles contest.
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Rollins, meanwhile, got the better of Damien Priest and Shinsuke Nakamura in a triple-threat before advancing to the final courtesy of a victory over Finn Balor.
There will be no love lost inside the squared circle on Saturday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as the duo go head-to-head for gold but Styles is full of admiration for the work Rollins has been producing of late.
Speaking to SPORTbible, Styles said: “This guy's on top of the world, right? And let's be honest, this guy, you put him in there with anybody, he's going to have an unbelievable match.
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“And he's going to Hollywood. Hopefully he's getting more opportunities there to do that kind of stuff. The sky's the limit for this guy. I mean, he's super talented, super smart.
“He's a leader, not only in the ring, but at home. Like, long before he got married. He’s got different businesses going on. He’s a really smart guy. He's the man, no doubt about it.
“The thing about wrestling is once you have nothing else to learn, it's time to get out. And knowing that he's going to stick around for longer and figure things out and be better than what he is right now, is scary. That's how good he is. This might be the best version of him right now but it's only going to get better.”
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At 45, Styles is a 25-year veteran and remains in impeccable shape. He still moves with the same crispness as he did two decades ago.
He's very rarely had any time off in his long and decorated career. In fact, the recent layoff was the longest he's endured and caused him to miss WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles.
But the leader of the Club remained positive and is now gunning for glory on Saturday, with just one win required to become world champion for a third time.
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He admitted: “It’s not fun being hurt, you know? Everybody hopes they have some time off to just live life a little bit. But yeah, be careful what you ask for. And with me, I got a broken ankle, I was way overdue to be hurt. It's been a while since I've been out and missed any significant amount of time. In fact, this was the most I've ever missed in my career. So again, there are other guys who've been through a whole heck of a lot more than I have.
“I am blessed that it's just been an ankle at this point that I broke, and then I had to spend a couple of months rehabbing. So I guess I look at it differently, it could be a lot worse.
“The fact that I missed it, it sucked. Because it is WrestleMania. But I wasn't crying about it either.
“This may be me because I'm old - matches may be bigger in retrospect to most people, but there are just matches that I'm going to have in my career.
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“And that's why I train for them the same way. I don't overtrain, I don't undertrain, I train the same way for every match no matter where it is. My whole career.
“Some implications are more than, as this match here with Seth. I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited about it. Because there is a new championship involved and I'm going up against Seth Rollins.”
Styles debuted in WWE as a shock entrant in the 2016 Royal Rumble and in many ways it was like starting over again for him.
He'd been a household name on the American independent scene and excelled in Japan and yet there was still the feeling from some that he might only be a bit-part player for WWE.
Look at his resume, however and it's clear to see that it's not the case. Styles is a triple crown champion, faced The Undertaker in his last match and will undoubtedly go into the company's Hall of Fame in the future.
He was main eventing for the WWE championship mere months after making his debut and proved that he very belonged in the big leagues.
“I would definitely say that there's definitely two different versions," Styles said when asked if he feels as though he's had two careers.
"I would say a more confident version in WWE for sure.
“But in the other half I was still learning my craft, and understanding and being humble enough to know it's not the end of the world if you screw things up in a match or whatnot, or even in a promo.
“I felt at home pretty quick when I was in the WWE, like it did not take long whatsoever. Got along with everybody.
“And I think it was one of those things where they just had to trust me that I was going to be one of the guys that that did my part and tried not to be anything else other than one of the boys. You know, 'Hey, I'm one of you guys, let's work together and have a great match’."
AJ Styles faces Seth Rollins at WWE Night of Champions live on WWE Network.
Topics: AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, WWE
Josh Lawless