Last year at the 2016 Royal Rumble, AJ Styles made an impactful debut as he contended for the WWE Championship. Since that point, Styles has had a great year in the WWE.
He’s had great matches with Chris Jericho, John Cena, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose and he won the WWE Championship; making him the only man in professional wrestling to hold the WWE Championship, TNA World Championship, and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
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He’s had great matches at every promotion he’s competed in and he’s been named the PWInsider Wrestler of the Year for 2016. He’s had a great year and is off to a great start for 2017, but Styles’ rumoured match for WrestleMania may prove to be a big disappointment.
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According to Cageside Seats, Styles seems to be headed to a match with SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon. This not only indicates that Styles will not be anywhere close to the main event, but that he will lose the WWE Championship either at the Royal Rumble or the Elimination Chamber.
Styles obviously has to lose the title at some point and move on to something new, but losing the title at the Rumble to Cena and being put in a match with Shane is not the right move right now.
If the WWE really wants to take the title off of Styles and possibly do a match between Cena and The Undertaker, then they would have to find a suitable opponent and a 50-year-old Shane-O-Mac is not the best option. So, this article will look at 5 opponents for AJ Styles at WrestleMania 33 and whether it should involve the championship or not.
#5 Randy Orton
With the tension building between Randy Orton and the rest of the Wyatt Family building, we’re likely to see The Viper turn on Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper at the Royal Rumble or sometime soon. He’ll likely feud with Wyatt leading into WrestleMania, but the feud could end at Elimination Chamber.
After that PPV, regardless of if the WWE Championship is involved, a program between Styles and Orton could make for some great TV.
Both men are fantastic wrestlers and the feud could be based off anything. If it is for the title, a tournament could be booked to not only bring closure to the Wyatt-Orton feud but make Orton the number one contender. If it would be without the title, then it could be as simple as a backstage scuffle or anger stemming from a Royal Rumble elimination.
The program with The Wyatt Family is more likely to conclude at WrestleMania than to end before it, so a match with Styles is a long shot. So it’s more likely to see this at SummerSlam than WrestleMania, but a slightly rushed match between Orton and Styles is still a lot better than a program with Shane McMahon.
#4 Finn Bálor
This match practically books itself. With both men former wrestlers of New Japan Pro Wrestling and then members of The Bullet Club there is a case for an angle that involves “professional jealousy.”
Bálor’s claim to a Championship only lies with the Universal Championship, but if the WWE put a bit of arrogance in Bálor’s character then it could make sense for him to jump ship.
In the month of his debut, Bálor already defeated Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. He’s defeated the majority of Raw’s top Superstars quicker than any wrestler has in recent memory, so jumping ship out of frustration with how the Raw brand has been operating since his departure could make for an interesting storyline.
On SmackDown, however, Bálor has yet to wrestle AJ Styles and a program for the WWE Championship could make for some interesting TV. This is another match that’s less likely to happen so soon, but Bálor and Styles both have history in Florida in NXT and TNA respectfully, so this match could easily be a historic encounter.
#3 Samoa Joe
Rumours of The Samoan Submission Machine debuting in the Royal Rumble have been circulating for weeks now and it could make for an amazing encounter, if Samoa Joe fought AJ Styles.
This could be a great match with or without the Championship as both men have history in Florida. Joe and Styles spent a large portion of their careers with TNA and their encounters have made for some epic matches.
Many fans thought they would retire before both men would become WWE Superstars, but the WWE has opened themselves up more to wrestlers from other companies and both men have held top titles in NXT and the main roster respectively.
The only thing that would make this match even better would be if the WWE had access to the TNA Library so they could air footage from their encounters in the six-sided ring. Even without that, an encounter with Joe could make for a show-stealing match on the grandest stage of them all.
#2 The Undertaker
With rumours circulating that John Cena vs. The Undertaker is off the table for WrestleMania 33, the next best match would be an encounter between AJ Styles and The Deadman.
While the reasoning behind the match is mostly associated with Styles being called The Phenomenal One and The Undertaker being called the Phenom, the match has potential to live up to those monikers. While The Undertaker’s wrestling ability hasn’t declined very much, Style’s wrestling ability is in a league above everyone else.
These two having a match together could easily be a match on par with The Undertaker-Shawn Michaels matches from WrestleManias 25 and 26, or at least close to them.
This is another dream match that wrestling fans have expressed interest in and if Styles is allowed to retain the WWE Championship, then this could probably be the best Championship match on the show as well as the best match at WrestleMania.
#1 Kurt Angle
News broke several days ago revealing that Kurt Angle would be the first wrestler in the 2017 Hall of Fame Class. Angle is a legendary wrestler who’s had matches with all of the big names in the WWE like The Undertaker, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, The Rock, and Randy Orton.
He has had memorable encounters with several Hall of Fame Superstars and is likely to retire following his Hall of Fame Induction. But if there’s a match that fans would love to see it would be one between Styles and Angle.
Angle and Styles have a lot of classic matches in TNA and taking that chemistry to WrestleMania would be a classic wrestling match that fans of TNA and WWE alike could look forward to. Whether for the WWE Championship or just a regular match, fans will be heavily invested either way.
Aside from the issue of building up the match without TNA’s library, this feud could elevate AJ Styles that much more and remind fans about the tremendous wrestling ability of The Olympic Gold Medalist.
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