WWE WrestleMania 33: AJ Styles Has Everything to Lose Against Shane McMahon

The WWE is setting up one if its biggest stars, AJ Styles, for failure, regardless of how this match ends.

It appears that one of my worst fears has come true and we will indeed be getting a match at WrestleMania 33 between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon. Why? Perhaps because Vince thinks we want to see his son compete in the ring again since last year was such a resounding success. Wait, no, that can’t be the reason because his match against The Undertaker last year was awful. I am fully aware that this match was responsible for selling the event last year but does WWE assume the same will be true this time around?

Despite not being an actual professional wrestler, Shane most often gets credit for the huge bumps he takes in his “matches” because there is literally nothing else he does well. As our very own Rob “Stay Woke” Wolkenbrod pointed out in his recent article about Shane, his move-set isn’t just limited; it’s downright juvenile:

"“If you watch McMahon try to get in offense, it’s hard to watch. Specifically, his punches are far from believable and look like someone trying to train for their first day of boxing school. They have drawn ire from wrestling fans since his full-time in-ring days during the early 2000’s.”"

For someone who has spent most of his life around actual professional wrestlers, Shane is surprisingly bad at it. I understand his primary ambition was never to be a main event superstar in this business, but if you’re going to insert yourself into the ring with these men at any point in your career, then you should at least bring something more to the table besides shadow boxing and erratic foot movement.

Therein lies my problem with Shane’s impending match against Styles at WrestleMania 33. Shane has absolutely nothing to lose in this match, either from a storyline perspective or a physical one. When Shane takes his inevitable bump, his risk of injury is ultimately meaningless. If he gets hurt, so what? He’s not a regular in-ring competitor and the job of commissioner is not so physically demanding that he couldn’t perform his duties while in a full-body cast if necessary. This means that AJ is the only one whose career would suffer if something were to go wrong.

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If Shane wins, it means an executive whose involvement can barely be described as “part time” has beaten one of the biggest stars in the WWE. It would be a professional embarrassment for Styles who would have gone from potential championship contender to jobbing for the boss’ son in just a matter of weeks. This was the same logic last year when Shane faced the Dead Man. On paper, there was no way Shane could or should have won that match, but people were intrigued anyway because of the “what if?” factor. In the end, Shane’s loss didn’t matter at all since he retained his position as general manager of RAW until he was moved to Smackdown in the wake of the draft.

If Shane loses, the win means nothing for Styles. Congratulations AJ, you just beat the 47-year-old commissioner of your brand who has been involved in approximately 1 wrestling match over the last 7 years and it was terrible. Not only that, but a victory over Shane doesn’t currently bring Styles any closer to his goal of regaining the WWE Championship. It is possible that further stipulations will be added in the weeks to come, but what reason would Shane have to grant Styles any sort of motivation to win? The boss doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone, especially a disgruntled employee.

Vince McMahon loves gimmick matches, which is exactly what this is and it frustrates me to no end. AJ Styles was one of the hardest working wrestlers in 2016 and his reward is a throwaway match against Shane. The implied feeling he wants us to have is a harken back to the days of Austin vs. McMahon which gave us some of the best segments of the Attitude Era, including some great in-ring work. That feud had deep roots that took months to develop and well-established lines highlighting the real-world tension between blue and white collar workers. A match between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon give us none of that.