What’s the story?
According to WWE.com, it has just been announced that AJ Styles will take on Randy Orton on SmackDown Live next week to determine who will face Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33.
In case you didn’t know...
Randy Orton won the 2017 Royal Rumble, granting him the right to a main event match for the WWE World Championship at the Showcase of the Immortals. However, Bray Wyatt won the WWE World Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
The following week on SmackDown Live, Orton stated that he refused to challenge Wyatt as long as he was the servant and Wyatt was the master. Wyatt responded that Orton now had the keys to the kingdom.
In order to solve this issue, SmackDown Live General Manager, Daniel Bryan, stated that there would be a battle royal on the next episode of SmackDown Live and that the winner of that match would go on to challenge Bray Wyatt for the WWE World Championship at WrestleMania 33.
The match came ended in a tie between AJ Styles and Luke Harper. Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan determined that the two final competitors would have a singles match for the WrestleMania spot on the next week’s episode.
During that match, Shane McMahon got inadvertently kicked by Luke Harper as he was arguing with AJ Styles on the outside of the ring. The Phenomenal One would go on to win the match and claim his spot at WrestleMania 33 – or so he thought.
Later on that very same night, Randy Orton would burn down the Wyatt Family compound and state that he was never the servant, and that he would in fact challenge Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 for the WWE World Championship.
The heart of the matter
WWE.com posted this story today, posing the question of who had the right to challenge Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33. Per the story, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan have determined that the two Superstars laying claim to the Number One Contenders’ spot will have a singles match this week on SmackDown Live, and the winner of that match is the man that will challenge Bray Wyatt for the WWE World Championship at WrestleMania 33.
What’s next?
The match will take place this coming Tuesday night on SmackDown Live.
Sportskeeda’s take
This is a huge match for SmackDown Live, as we don’t believe AJ Styles and Randy Orton have ever had any kind of interaction in the wrestling ring, let alone a one-on-one match. In fact, AJ Styles has been quoted as saying that Randy Orton is his dream opponent and that he and The Viper would create something special if they ever went one-on-one.
The only drawback to the match happening now is that it may not get the proper amount of time, as it’s not happening on a pay-per-view. We may be mistaken and the match might get plenty of time on SmackDown Live this week. However, with everything that has been rumored regarding these two Superstars for WrestleMania 33, we expect Orton to come out on the winning end of this, though it may be through controversial means.
It has long been rumoured that AJ Styles was pencilled in for a match with Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 33 this year, as well as that Orton vs. Wyatt has been rumoured to happen for some time. If AJ Styles somehow gets screwed out of the victory in this match, that would be the perfect way to set up his match against the Commissioner of Smackdown! Live.
One thing is for certain, though. We cannot wait to see this match!
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