What’s the story?
WWE Superstar AJ Styles was absent from SmackDown Exclusive Live Events over the weekend despite the company having advertised his appearance at them.
CageSideSeats reports that Styles had scheduled to take time off this past weekend, but that there was a mix-up and the company forgot to pull him from the advertisements.
In case you didn’t know...
The SmackDown roster had three house shows leading up to Tuesday’s SmackDown Live. The Saturday show emanated from the I Wireless Center in Moline, IL and featured a main event featuring John Cena, Baron Corbin, and the WWE Champion Bray Wyatt.
The next SmackDown house show took place in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and featured a fatal 4-Way for the WWE Championship involving Cena, Corbin, Harper and Wyatt. The next SmackDown Live Event happened at the Five Flag Center in Dubuque, Iowa on Monday and did not feature Styles as one of the wrestlers for the event either.
The SmackDown house shows from the previous weekend had featured Styles in Intercontinental Championship title matches featuring The Miz, Corbin and current IC champion Dean Ambrose.
The Heart of the matter
This was probably disappointing for the fans who showed up to Live Events specifically to see the Phenomenal One, but at least it’s just an error in the WWE’s advertising.
Many fans would’ve jumped to conclusions about his absence indicating an injury; similar to how Naomi had a noticeable house show absence following her injury and had to relinquish the Women’s Championship as a result.
What’s next?
Styles will return to action on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live when he faces Luke Harper in a #1 Contenders’ match for Bray Wyatt’s WWE Championship.
Sportskeeda’s take:
Styles’ absence from house shows was probably a bummer for fans who wanted to see The Phenomenal One do his thing, but there will be other times to see him wrestle in the next few years.
Though Styles is not the youngest star on the roster, he still has plenty of years left and will be a part of plenty of house shows in the future.
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