AJ Styles is the WWE Main Event Scene's Much-Needed Boost

On this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE gave themselves a whole world of new main event opportunities with AJ Styles becoming the new No. 1 Contender.

WrestleMania 32 could have gone down as one of the most frustrating WWE shows in the company’s history. Coming out of the show, the company looked like they could be in trouble. With a champion in the shape of Roman Reigns, a man who seems to be universally booed despite the fact he’s supposed to be the big babyface, it looked like the next few months could be a real chore to watch. How wrong could we all have been?

Within the space of three hours on Monday Night Raw, we got a few little things that could excite us as fans going forward. With a few subtle changes to the Reigns character, moving him away from being the next John Cena to being the guy who couldn’t really care less what the fans think, WWE has done what they needed to do to nullify the boos that rain down on him every week. All we needed was someone to be the next contender for Reigns’ WWE Championship, and then we got that man in the most unexpected of circumstances.

More wwe: WrestleMania 33 Match Card Projections

Reigns issued an open challenge, basically telling the entire roster that whoever wanted a shot at the title should come out and face him. That lead to Chris Jericho, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn coming down to confront him. A fatal four-way match was set up for the main event of Raw between the four men (that would end up seeing the returning Cesaro take Zayn’s spot after Owens attacked him). Styles won what was probably the best Raw main event we’ve seen in the last twelve months. We now have a now No. 1 Contender for the biggest championship in WWE, and he is Phenomenal.

When Styles was in one of the matches of the year at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 back in January, nobody could have imagined that Styles would be main eventing a WWE show within 6 months. Even fewer people would have thought it possible he’d potentially be the WWE Champion before the end of the year. Then rumours surfaced that he had handed in his notice to NJPW, he subsequently signed and debuted at the Royal Rumble, and then entered a feud with Chris Jericho that saw Jericho come out on top in their match at WreslteMania. You could have the expected Styles to fall into mid-card obscurity, but he’s rocketed to the top of the card instead, and could be the most important man in the company in the next few months.

When Styles left TNA in December 2013 he became one of the hottest free agents in the world. He returned to his former stomping ground in Ring of Honor, wrestled for companies around the world and became a megastar in NJPW. His time as a freelance talent saw him become a man who regularly topped match of the year and performer of the year polls in magazines and websites across the Globe. Styles proved that TNA he’d been right to leave TNA, a company who didn’t think he was worth keeping hold of, how much more wrong could they have been?

More from WWE

Styles’ time in Japan saw him win major titles, become part of Bullet Club and prove himself to be one of the best in-ring talents in the entire world. He can now use that experience to elevate the main event scene in WWE to even higher highs. Reigns has struggled to capture the imaginations of the WWE Universe, but if he is booked correctly in this feud with Styles then he can become the massive star that WWE so desperately wants him to be. Reigns needs to stick to the slightly cocky guy who couldn’t give a damn what anyone thinks. Styles will be the babyface that the fans get behind because he isn’t the cookie cutter guy that WWE think should be the Champion.

You could pick anyone from a list including Randy Orton, John Cena, Sheamus or Alberto Del Rio, even throw in men like Big Show and Brock Lesnar and they’ve dominated the main event scene for the past decade. Only in the last year or so have we seen something different, in the form of Seth Rollins, and the decision to push Styles to the top could be an absolute master stroke.

It may lead to a feud that sees the introduction of some of his old friends, which could end with a massive division which could tear the WWE apart. It will most definitely lead to some of the best matches that Reigns has had in WWE. It will show that you don’t just have to be the muscle-bound freak in a pair of black trunks to do well in WWE anymore. It will hopefully lead to Styles being the first man to hold top titles in TNA, NJPW and WWE. It will definitely lead to AJ Styles showing why he is known as “The Phenomenal One”.

Home/WWE

AJ Styles is the WWE Main Event Scene’s Much-Needed Boost

By Carl Gac | Apr 7, 2016

On this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE gave themselves a whole world of new main event opportunities with AJ Styles becoming the new No. 1 Contender.