What’s the story?
With less than a couple of hours left for the match between AJ Styles and Luke Harper, WWE officials have still not decided whether to add Luke Harper to the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania 33 or not, according to a report from CageSideSeats.
As for AJ Styles, the report states that whatever the outcome of the match might be, Styles was still scheduled to face Shane McMahon at WrestleMania.
In case you didn’t know...
Randy Orton, the winner of the 2017 Royal Rumble had a guaranteed title shot against Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania, but gave it up, vowing not to face Bray Wyatt.
This resulted in Daniel Bryan announcing a 10-man Battle Royal to determine Wyatt’s opponent for WrestleMania. However, a dusty finish at the end saw AJ Styles and Luke Harper apparently go down at the same time, although the footage indicates that AJ’s feet clearly touched the ground first.
Due to the dusty finish, Daniel Bryan ordered that Harper and Styles face each other on the next episode of SmackDown Live to have a definite winner.
The heart of the matter
According to the report by CageSideSeats, it appears that the WWE Creative officials are still undecided on whether or not Luke Harper should be added to the WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania 33.
Also read: WWE Rumors: People backstage against the idea of putting Luke Harper in WrestleMania title match
Having Luke Harper in the match, with Bray Wyatt as his opponent would provide for a fitting culmination of the Wyatt family storyline.
However, WWE Creative will also need to keep the 2017 Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton in mind, who could also be a part of the match by turning on his master Bray Wyatt, which would make the Wrestlemania 33 showdown a triple threat one.
What’s next?
WWE might be looking to book a singles match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 33, with no triple threat stipulation being added to it.
In order to get to this outcome, they might have AJ win the #1 contenders match on Smackdown, and once Randy turns on Bray and cashes in his WrestleMania championship opportunity, AJ could have his WrestleMania opportunity taken away from him as technically, Randy Orton would be more qualified for it, having won the Royal Rumble.
This could then lead to AJ having his championship match taken away from him, and it would set up Shane McMahon to take on AJ Styles at WrestleMania 33.
Despite how the WWE might be looking to book this, AJ Styles and Luke Harper will certainly put forth a great match on SmackDown Live.
Sportskeeda’s take
Luke Harper would undoubtedly be deserving of a spot in the World championship match. He has proven over the course of the last month that he certainly is main event material.
As for AJ, he deserves better than a Shane McMahon match for what he’s done for the company in 2016.
Regardless, it is nice to see WWE finally recognise the potential of Luke Harper, and he now has an opportunity to be a huge star on SmackDown Live.
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