This week on Smackdown Live saw a match between AJ Styles and Randy Orton with the winner to face Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. Orton defeated Styles and will main event WrestleMania in one of the best matches in the history of Smackdown, but the most interesting part of the match happened after the match was over.
The aftermath of the match featured an irate AJ Styles confronting Smackdown Live commissioner Shane McMahon in the backstage area. Styles blames McMahon for not headlining WrestleMania , even though he won the Battle Royal to determine Wyatt’s new WrestleMania opponent. This is reportedly the beginning of a feud that will see Styles take on McMahon at WrestleMania.
With this year’s WrestleMania card not being as great as recent years, the WWE are beginning to throw things against the wall and see what sticks. AJ Styles is the best performer in the company and he needs to be on the card for the biggest show of the year. The problem came after Styles lost the WWE Title to John Cena at the Royal Rumble and then took the pin in the Elimination Chamber to the current champion Wyatt. That left Styles with nothing to do for WrestleMania.
Enter Shane McMahon.
Shane is one of the more underrated performers in WWE history as what he lacks in wrestling skill, he makes up for in heart and the ability to entertain audiences. His tenure as leader of Smackdown Live has been lackluster as Smackdown Live general manager Daniel Bryan has been more front and center on the show. However, McMahon has made his presence felt in the past few weeks, making matches and interjecting himself into storylines.
So now we have this rumored (it’s not announced yet) match between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon. However, this match should not happen.
I understand that there are not many options for Styles at WrestleMania, but shouldn’t AJ be a more competitive match against a full-time wrestler? Maybe give him a match against an special attraction superstar who would making his in-ring return to the company after years...like Kurt Angle? You want AJ to showcase his talents in a match at WrestleMania, not lighten up on a non-wrestler who is put into matches randomly once a year like Shane McMahon.
McMahon will work hard and will pull out a great move in his match against AJ, but I feel as if AJ is being short-changed in this situation. AJ will carry this match and walk Shane through it, but AJ will also be limited in how he normally performs against a non-wrestler. Yes the Phenomenal Forearm move will still happen but the Styles Clash could kill Shane with his lack of in-ring skill. It just seems that this match was thrown together and will happen because the WWE said “It’s AJ Styles, he can work with anybody!”
I hope that I am wrong and that this match steals the show at WrestleMania, but it likely won’t. It will be one of the opening matches, sandwiched between the Andre The Giant Battle Royal and a divas match. Shane McMahon will do a crazy off the top rope move and AJ will dominate the match for 97% of the match until Shane makes a comeback. AJ will win and this feud will end with a whimper, benefiting neither man at all.
But hey, what do you tell a company that insists on leaning on past stars and part-timers to spike business?
