Add another big one to the WrestleMania 35 lineup.
On Thursday, WWE announced that A.J. Styles vs. Randy Orton is now official for the mega-event next month at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The match was all but confirmed on Tuesday night's WWE SmackDown Live show where "The Phenomenal One" issued a formal challenge to "The Viper" for a showdown at the biggest show of 2019.
WWE.com released the following announcement on Thursday, confirming the match for WrestleMania 35:
At WrestleMania, AJ Styles will take on Randy Orton in a battle to see who has the right to call SmackDown LIVE their house.
After weeks of subtle jabs between Orton and Styles culminated in a surprise Phenomenal Forearm on The Viper at WWE Fastlane, the two Superstars collided in a harsh war-of-words on the blue brand.
Orton claimed that it was absolutely ludicrous that SmackDown LIVE is referred to as The House that Styles Built when Orton has been holding it down and making history on the blue brand since 2002. Orton declared that this wasn’t Styles’ house, but his, and The Phenomenal One would soon just be another “indy darling” who couldn’t hack it against him.
Styles interrupted WWE’s Apex Predator and accused him of never accomplishing one thing in WWE that he could call his own since his father and grandfather opened the door for him and his association in several factions along the way protected him from failure.
Orton took great exception to that claim and promised Styles that this was his house, rent was due and that he should make the check out to the three most destructive letters in sports-entertainment: R-K-O. Styles didn’t blink, instead retorting by challenging his adversary to a showdown at WrestleMania.
WWE.com has since learned that this match will indeed that place on The Showcase of the Immortal, Sunday April 7 at 7 ET/4 PT on the award-winning WWE Network.
Make sure to join us here at Rajah.com on Sunday, April 7th for live play-by-play results coverage of WrestleMania 35!
(Follow us on Twitter @RajahNews & Matt Boone @MattBoone1984 for more exclusive backstage wrestling news and rumors!)