What’s the story?
In the aftermath of the AJ Styles-Shane McMahon angle that played out on this week's episode of SmackDown, AJ Styles has been moved to the ‘alumni’ section of the WWE website.
This is as a direct consequence of Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan firing AJ Styles, after he viciously attacked Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon. The move, one presumes, is to keep kayfabe despite the fact that Shane McMahon is slated to face AJ Styles at Wrestlemania.
In case you didn’t know...
AJ Styles lost the WWE Championship to John Cena at the Royal Rumble.
Since then, he never received a one-on-one rematch for the title, despite being put in a Battle Royal to determine the number 1 contender, an Elimination Chamber match and a number 1 contenders’ duel against Randy Orton, which saw him coming up short each time.
Also read: WWE News: AJ Styles sends Shane McMahon crashing through a car window
As a result of the same, AJ Styles complained about not having a match at WrestleMania and subsequently took out his ire on Shane McMahon, attacking him in the parking lot and putting his head through a car window. Daniel Bryan fired AJ Styles for his actions.
The heart of the matter...
Shane McMahon indicated that he would be facing AJ Styles at WrestleMania. However, WWE has not yet made the official announcement for the match between the two, although the matter was touched upon by Daniel Bryan and Renee Young during Talking Smack.
As it stands, AJ Styles is, in storyline, no longer a part of the WWE.
What’s next?
With only a few weeks to go until WrestleMania 33, it will be interesting to see how this angle develops. One assumes that AJ Styles will be hired back by Shane McMahon so that they can have their one-on-one match.
It is also being speculated that since Shane McMahon did not really announce himself as AJ Styles’ opponent, he could be putting someone else in his place for the match at WrestleMania 33 instead.
Author’s take
While there has been universal disdain towards the Shane McMahon-AJ Styles matchup, it looks likely that WWE is heading in that direction.
Knowing that Shane McMahon brings his A-Game to the big stage and that AJ Styles’ is always on point, it should be an interesting match. There’s definitely going to be one high spot, knowing the ways of the younger McMahon.
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