WWE Royal Rumble 2017: 5 Reason AJ Styles Should Defeat John Cena

Credit: WWE.com

1. Styles is Shining as SmackDown’s Star

In 2016, AJ Styles made the biggest impact out of everyone on the WWE main roster. He came into the company during the Royal Rumble and received quite the welcome. He was able to build on that momentum with quality matches against Chris Jericho and other WWE veterans. Styles showed why he belonged in the WWE.

Styles was someone who was able to benefit the most from the brand split and become a headline superstar on SmackDown Live. He’s embraced the villain role, but was also able to back up the talk with key victories over John Cena, Dean Ambrose and others. While every run has to come to an end at some point, it doesn’t seem like Styles’ momentum is going to slow down anytime soon.

SmackDown Live was able to beat Raw in the final week of television ratings for 2016. But the gap between the perceived A and B shows was closing throughout the year. Styles is arguably a big part of that. Cena hasn’t been around for most of the year and hasn’t had the impact that he once did.

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This is a matter of the future of the WWE taking over and the main event stars in the past allowing new stars to shine. As mentioned earlier, Cena is likely going to get his 16th world championship to tie Flair’s record. But now is not the time for that to happen.