For the past couple of months, the WWE Championship has been incredibly lackluster. Due to no reason of his own, except perhaps some added touches that will make his character stronger, AJ Styles has left much to be desired being the leader of the blue brand. While he has undoubtedly exhibited some of the best matches of the entire year, and is arguably the wrestler of the year for the male side (Charlotte for the females), SmackDown Live has become a show that many have little reason to get excited about.
The two main reasons involve Dean Ambrose and James Ellsworth. Ambrose has cemented his role as being the top babyface on SmackDown. However, his “lunatic fringe” character has become increasingly stale, and the fans are starting to turn on him as well. AJ Styles simply does not have a strong enough babyface competitor on the show in order to create a compelling narrative with.
The prime example of this is James Ellsworth. Originally brought in as a jobber to Braun Strowman, somehow he gained enough support to not only be a member of the roster, but defeat the WWE Champion on multiple occasions. Although none of those victories were considered “clean”, they will still go in the record books as potentially sabotaging any kind of momentum that the new “face that runs the place” was garnering.
Thankfully, Ellsworth seems to be out of the main picture, and Styles can move forward without the embarrassment.
Recently, a new number one contender was determined for the WWE Championship, with former World Heavyweight Champion Dolph Ziggler earning another opportunity. He was unsuccessful in capturing the championship from Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam, but he once again wants to become the top name on the roster. However, this looks to be no more than a holdover match, and it does not appear that Ziggler will win the title.
This leaves someone to desperately opposite AJ Styles in order to evaluate the status of the title. Enter The Undertaker.
Right before Survivor Series, Undertaker appeared on an episode of SmackDown Live to give a pep talk to the team who were representating the brand. He also stated that he will be doing more appearances than his yearly WrestleMania moment.
Right after Styles defeats Ziggler in their match, the lights turn off and the gong tolls. Out comes the Undertaker, who stares down Styles and informs him that he wants to be champion one more time. This leads to a match between Undertaker and Styles at the Royal Rumble, in which the Undertaker wins. John Cena starts the year entering himself in the Royal Rumble. Although he ends up being one of the last two standing, he gets eliminated by the winner, who will be from the Raw brand.
On SmackDown, Cena congratulates the Royal Rumble winner, but still wants to become 16-time world champion. All of a sudden, Undertaker appears, and states that he will have to get past him in order to achieve that feat. The stage is set, and Undertaker vs. John Cena is scheduled for WrestleMania 33.
The outcome at WrestleMania can be one of two options. Either John Cena defeats Undertaker at WM and becomes champion, or Undertaker retires champion on SmackDown and a tournament is held to crown the new champion, which would make the down season of post-WrestleMania have something to look forward to. Hopefully, it is the latter.
