What’s the story?
After the announcement of two blockbuster matches, WWE has announced another interesting segment for tomorrow's episode of WWE SmackDown Live involving two of the biggest names on the Blue Roster.
As noted by Wrestlinginc, the next episode of SmackDown will feature a contract signing between the WWE World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles and the #1 contender for his Championship, John Cena. Here is the promo for this week’s episode released by WWE via Twitter:
In case you didn't know...
John Cena made his much-anticipated return to SmackDown last week. He cut a promo in the opening segment of the show and announced that he will face the WWE Champion AJ Styles at the upcoming Royal Rumble PPV.
WWE has also previously announced that The Miz will be defending his Intercontinental Champion against Dean Ambrose and Baron Corbin will face Dolph Ziggler on the first SmackDown of 2017.
Also read: Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin announced for this coming Tuesday's SmackDown LIVE
The heart of the matter
AJ Styles has emerged as the mainstay of SmackDown ever since the brand split. Although Cena has faced Styles on multiple occasions both before and after the Brand Extension Draft, the Leader of Cenation has not been able to beat the Champ That Runs The Camp in any of their encounters.
Due to this and the fact that John has spent more time away from WWE in 2016 than he has in any year of the past decade, many have started believing that he is no longer the franchise player of WWE and that place now belongs to AJ Styles.
What's next?
John Cena has a lot to prove in 2017 after having a year full of ups and down in 2016. While Cena has overcome every obstacle in his career so far, beating AJ Styles is something that has proven to be one of the toughest challenges that the former 15-time world champion has ever faced.
Also, there have been lots of rumours regarding the plans for both Cena and Styles for WrestleMania 33 with the Undertaker being the centre point of all these talks.
The match between the two bitter rivals at the upcoming PPV is what will ultimately decide the future of both these stars heading into Wrestlemania season. So the contract signing for this match is also expected to be an exploding one.
Sportskeeda's take
With so many implications lying behind a single match, the upcoming contract signing becomes much more important than any normal contract signing we see in WWE. With the announced matches and segment, fans hope that SmackDown will once again deliver a fantastic show on its first episode of 2017.
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