WWE Royal Rumble 2018: AJ Styles Should Have Triple Threat Match

AJ Styles will begin 2018 the same way he began 2017 – as the WWE Champion. At the WWE Royal Rumble 2018, his title match should be a Triple Threat against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

Everyone is busy wondering if Roman Reigns, John Cena, Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, or a different big name will win the WWE Royal Rumble 2018. Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar will defend his Universal Championship in a Triple Threat match against Kane and Braun Strowman, and AJ Styles must also face an opponent at the Rumble to defend his WWE Championship.

Last year at the Rumble, Styles entered the pay per view as the WWE Champion but dropped the title to John Cena, who won his record-tying 16th in incredible fashion. The match was arguably WWE’s best bout of the year, as the two traded big moves and false finishes throughout.

Styles’s 2017 was so good that we named him our best superstar of the year, and there’s no doubt that he will want to begin 2018 on an equally high note.

Last week on SmackDown Live, Styles lost to Kevin Owens in the main event of the show, in a match that was booked by GM Daniel Bryan. Styles was about to win and would’ve had Owens for the three-count, but Shane McMahon distracted the referee by trying to stop Sami Zayn from interfering. After the loss, Styles stared down Shane, whom he feuded with and defeated at WrestleMania 33.

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This week on SmackDown Live, Styles will face Owens’s best friend, Sami Zayn. Usually, the formula goes as follows.

Owens defeats a big-name superstar on SmackDown (such as Randy Orton or Shinsuke Nakamura) with help from Zayn, then that superstar gets their revenge the following week by defeating Zayn.

But this time, I think we’re looking at a different ending. I think Styles will lose to Zayn via more shenanigans.

In most cases, the superstar that gets revenge on Zayn ends up getting help from somebody else who evens the odds to prevent Owens from helping Zayn. Maybe this time, someone like Shane will come out to help Styles, and it will backfire.

Either way, Styles needs an opponent at the Rumble, and a straight-up singles match with Owens would be a problem. The two already faced each other repeatedly over the summer, with Styles emerging victorious at SummerSlam to retain the United States Championship in controversial fashion. Owens and Styles are two of the best in the business, but there isn’t much more the two can do against each other in a singles match, especially since they had one of their best encounters last week on SmackDown.

However, sticking Zayn into the match to make it a Triple Threat would add a different dynamic to things, and the two best friends could tease a turn during the match.

They could try to team up to defeat Styles, but then the match could devolve into an everyman-for-himself affair.

Styles is fully expected to retain the title, since he’s the biggest babyface star in the WWE and is somebody nearly everyone wants to see defending the title at WrestleMania. He’s lost to Chris Jericho and defeated Shane McMahon at his only two career WrestleMania appearances, so a bigger match with real stakes would be more befitting of a superstar who created some of the WWE’s most memorable moments in 2017.

Of course, there’s always the chance Styles loses this hypothetical Triple Threat match to either Zayn or Owens, but that wouldn’t be the biggest travesty either. While it would be disappointing and a bit puzzling for Styles to drop the title at the Royal Rumble, a feud between Owens and Zayn involving the WWE Championship at ‘Mania could be excellent.

For those concerned that Styles losing to Owens and Zayn back-to-back would be problematic, I’d argue that it’s irrelevant. Not only would he be losing via cheating, but he’s lost back-to-back to the same opponent before, back when he dropped the US Title to Baron Corbin in October. Since Styles is fully expected to retain the WWE Championship at the Rumble, these losses wouldn’t matter much.

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Zayn and Owens have been involved in SmackDown Live‘s main event scene for months, and Styles is the blue brand’s biggest star. A Triple Threat match with these three wrestlers would make plenty of sense, and it could end up being one of the better matches of the year by the time 2018 ends.

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