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#3 AJ Styles vs. John Cena - Royal Rumble 2017
This was WWE’s attempt to create their own version of the ‘6-star’ match between Okada and Omega from Wrestle Kingdom 11. And while it failed to reach that mark, it was still an outstanding wrestling match, and easily the best WWE match of the year.
Somehow, Cena and Styles managed to have a better match on this night than they did at SummerSlam 2016. They used many of the same moves as in that match, yet it still got a huge reaction as it everything was completely new.
Beneath all the big moves, finisher kick-outs and deafening fan reaction was a simple story: both of them desperately wanted the WWE Championship. Styles wanted to keep it while Cena wanted to tie Ric Flair’s record. That desperation translated into a back-and-forth war that was not dull for even a second.
Furthermore, Cena showed something that’s almost never seen from his character: real human emotion. He plays a corporate, robotic superhero so often that he doesn’t get many chances to feel real emotions like frustration, anger, and desperation. But he brought those out in this match, and showed them both through his moves and through subtle facial expressions that said more than any promo.
While some might’ve wished Styles won in the end, losing here did not harm Styles in any way. He took an incredible amount of punishment from Cena and came ever so close to winning on countless occasions. Like Bret Hart losing to the British Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992, this match was a crowning achievement for Styles, and he showed everyone just how unbelievably good he is at his craft.
