WWE WrestleMania 33: 5 Ways to Improve on Last Year’s Show
By Adam O'Brien
4. AJ Styles Gets His First Win at WrestleMania
AJ Styles’ opening rivalry to his debut year with WWE was a spectacular one.
Styles came in with a lot of hype following his triumphant emergence in the 2016 Royal Rumble match, and a seasoned WWE veteran like Chris Jericho made for the perfect rival for “The Phenomenal One”, who had been around the block everywhere in the wrestling business with the exception of the WWE – until now.
If there was one shadow cast over that opening few months, however, some say that Styles deserved to win his WrestleMania clash with Y2J that put the feud to rest.
More from Daily DDT
- It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
- Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
- Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
Sure, he became the No. 1 contender to the WWE Championship the following night regardless of his loss, but given how remarkable AJ Styles’ year happened to be, it would have been nice to say that he emerged victorious in his very first dance on the grandest stage of them all. This year, the story is a little different going in.
Styles is one of the hottest names in all of WWE right now, never mind SmackDown Live on its own, and he’s walking into WrestleMania to take on Shane McMahon.
They did well to sell this match with Styles’ callous attack on the prodigal son of Vincent Kennedy McMahon, even if fans are still disappointed to see him go up against a part-time wrestler as opposed to the champion of the SmackDown brand.
Whether the match turns out to be good or not, however, the end result should remain the same. AJ Styles is the only man that can really capitalize on a win here – what is Shane really going to do with a victory over “the face that runs the place”?
As far as the narrative goes, Styles has a lot to prove, even more so than last year’s encounter with Chris Jericho, and if you want to make this year’s WrestleMania mean something for his career, then it’s AJ’s turn to walk away with his hand raised.