Does AJ Styles Stand a Chance of Headlining WWE WrestleMania 33?

AJ Styles will be competing with Luke Harper for a spot in the WrestleMania 33 main event, but it may be a one-sided affair, if you’re looking beyond the ring.

AJ Styles’ 2016 has been well-documented. He tore through the WWE upon arrival in January 2016, debuting in the Royal Rumble match. A WrestleMania 32 match, feuds with Roman Reigns and John Cena, and a WWE Championship reign followed this to cap off an incredible year.

2017 has still seen Styles be phenomenal, but he lost his title to Cena at the 2017 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. It put the chances of him having a marquee match in doubt, until the events in the recent episode of SmackDown transpired.

In a battle royal to determine the No. 1 contender to Bray Wyatt’s WWE Championship at WrestleMania 33, it came down to Styles and Luke Harper. They fought for a few minutes, until Harper sent the former NJPW star to the floor. He fell to the ground too, which had been planned for these two to simultaneous fall to the ground; one clearly hit the floor before the other. However, Daniel Bryan and the officials made the case that no one had a good view, so a match between Styles and Harper was made for the upcoming episode of SmackDown.

The path for Harper is there. He has the ongoing storyline with Wyatt and Randy Orton, so throwing him into the mix seems logical. Does AJ Styles stand any chance of winning this, though?

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For over a month, we’ve noted the WrestleMania 33 match card rumors from the Wrestling Observer. One of them included the former WWE champion facing Shane McMahon, who has mostly been absent from TV for the past month. We’ve hardly seen any build to this rumored match, except for a few complaints about upper management putting his in-ring competitions together. It’s subtle, but not really enough to say it’s going to happen.

If WWE is still deciding on doing Styles vs. McMahon at WrestleMania, then these hints could be subtle enough to where it won’t look like a loophole in storytelling if this match doesn’t happen. It’s the opposite from Bray Wyatt vs. Brock Lesnar for WrestleMania 32, which saw the Wyatt Family beat up and eliminate the Beast Incarnate in the 2016 Royal Rumble match. There wouldn’t be a payoff for it at the Show of Shows, with Lesnar facing Dean Ambrose. So as long as WWE doesn’t go down a somewhat similar road with Styles and McMahon over the next week or two, they’ll be fine.

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By barely taking a step into a potential WrestleMania program, it sets up a little doubt as to whether Harper is as much of a guarantee to win. By taking a spot in the WrestleMania main event, it would be a logical spot in the storyline, but a gigantic leap from where he’s been for the past four years as somewhat of a super enhancement talent and a right-hand man. It led to the former Wyatt Family member taking losses in nearly every match he was part of. To see him go from this to being in the biggest match at the grandest show would be an incredible jump, something almost unprecedented from the recent years of WWE programming. Is it too big of a step for WWE to take, though?

Styles would be the safer route to go. He has the established following and spot on the SmackDown roster as a main event player. WWE fans will see him as a mainstream name to put into the mix, along with putting on a spectacular match with Orton and Wyatt. That’s even if the story wouldn’t make as much sense with him in over Harper.

What also goes in Styles’ favor is if the McMahon feud breaks down in backstage talks for whatever reason. If WWE needs a backup plan for him, he’s not going in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal or competing for the Intercontinental Championship after already feuding with Ambrose. So putting him in the WrestleMania main event would be a significant backup plan, but one that no one shouldn’t expect him to rise up to the task to.

Next: 20 Early Predictions for WrestleMania 33

The odds of AJ Styles headlining WrestleMania 33 are still low, however. We’ll know what the case is by Tuesday, which will clear some direction for the upcoming show.