WWE SmackDown Live: 5 things we learned from this week's episode (January 1, 2019)

#2 AJ Styles could be Lars Sullivan's first victim

AJ Styles' buttons were pushed by Vince McMahon last week to close out SmackDown Live, and the result wasn't pretty at all as Styles snapped out on Vince McMahon himself.

This week, Shane McMahon confronted the former WWE Champion and Styles refused to apologise for his actions.

Styles went on to win the Fatal-5 way match later in the night to become the number one contender for the WWE Championship currently held by Daniel Bryan.

Since Styles has made it into the bad books of the McMahons, and Vince wants the inner darker Styles to shoot out, it is possible that it will be provoked out by Vince by the use of Lars Sullivan.

Sullivan will make his main roster debut soon, and we could see him go after Styles on orders of the McMahons which could result in a good storyline going forward.