What’s the story?
AJ Styles had one of the most impressive debut years in the history of WWE as far as match quality and character work are concerned. 2017 hasn’t gotten off to quite the start that AJ was hoping for, but he has an opportunity to turn everything around at WrestleMania 33, or so says SmackDown Live Commissioner, Shane McMahon.
In case you didn’t know..
Last night during SmackDown Live, AJ Styles cut a promo airing his grievances about how the situation for the Number One Contendership to Bray Wyatt’s WWE Championship had played out over the last few weeks. He then stated that he and Shane McMahon would have a conversation about AJ’s career.
Styles then brutally attacked Shane McMahon backstage and launched a beatdown on the SmackDown Live Commissioner. The beatdown finally ended after AJ slammed Shane’s head through a car window. Shane laid on the ground bleeding as officials came to his aid.
Also read: WWE News: AJ Styles moved to the alumni section of the WWE website
Afterwards, SmackDown Live General Manager, Daniel Bryan was left with little choice. AJ confronted Daniel Bryan and said, “What are you gonna do...fire me?” Daniel responded, “You’re damn right I am.” Police then escorted AJ Styles from the building.
As SmackDown was going off the air last night, the camera cut to the gorilla position, where Shane McMahon was making his way out to the arena. Shane grabbed a microphone, then made his way out onto the stage to zero fanfare. Shane then stated that AJ Styles now had an opponent for WrestleMania.
The heart of the matter
On today’s edition of Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez reported that WWE would more than likely add some stipulation to the match, given how it has been built to this point. He mentioned that he thought the stipulation would probably be, “Falls Count Anywhere.”
What’s next?
There are two more episodes of SmackDown Live left before WrestleMania 33. If a stipulation is added to the match, it will likely be in the next two weeks.
Author’s Take
When the match was initially thrown out as a rumour a few months ago, it was always assumed that it would have to be contested under a stipulation. AJ Styles is arguably one of the very best wrestlers in the world, but even he will need some fairly serious smoke and mirrors to get a good match out of Shane McMahon.
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