What's the story?
As reported by Cageside Seats, the plans are still in place for Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles to be the main WWE Championship feud on SmackDown Live. The two fought against one another a few weeks back for the right to be inserted into the WWE Title match at WrestleMania 33.
In case you didn't know...
Many fans have been clamouring to see an extended Orton vs. Styles feud for quite some time now, after the success of their first match. Right now, however, the two men are occupied, as Orton is preparing to face Wyatt and then potentially Mahal for the WWE Title, meanwhile Styles is the number one contender for the United States Championship.
The heart of the matter
The aforementioned report suggests that the general belief is Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles will still be the main plan going forward on SmackDown Live. Apparently, everything that's transpiring right now is simply a holdover to get them to that point, which makes sense, given how many people were confused by the idea of Jinder Mahal challenging for the WWE Championship.
What's next?
Randy Orton is set to defend his newly won WWE Championship against Bray Wyatt in a House of Horrors match at WWE Payback, meanwhile, AJ Styles will continue to be in limbo until we discover who he will face for the US Title - Kevin Owens or Chris Jericho.
In all likelihood, we won't see any build to a bout between Orton and Styles for a couple months yet considering their current schedules.
Author's take
Orton vs. Styles does seem like the right way to go, and that's been evident ever since Randy won the title from Bray in Orlando. However, a face vs. face feud won't work in this instance because the fans will turn The Viper heel by default.
Some will argue that it's too soon for him to turn back to the dark side following his tenure with the Wyatts, but let's be honest - he was never truly a bad guy.
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