WWE WrestleMania 34: Keep AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Simple

There’s still the better part of two months until WWE WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans, Louisiana, but the most sought-after match at the event remains the mega match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.

The card for WWE WrestleMania 34 is still widely unknown at this point, but one match that is seemingly set in stone is AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship against Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura.

Out of every potential dream match the WWE universe could see in today’s landscape of the WWE, this match tops the list and has all the potential in the world of being a historic showdown between two of the most talented superstars the WWE has ever seen.

Granted, Styles and Nakamura have faced each other before in NJPW.  But to have these two former indies darlings face each other at a WrestleMania for the WWE Championship is as big as it gets.  There’s still a couple roadblocks from now until WrestleMania 34 to make the match official, but it seems all but a certainty the match will happen.

The match itself should be nothing short of exceptional, but one underrated element to the building of this match is the storyline dynamic.  WrestleMania matches often times tend to be the closing chapter of feuds that have been building for months.

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More times than not, high-profiled WrestleMania matches are personal battles with a lot of storyline developments wrapped up in one epic encounter.  But with Styles vs. Nakamura, does the match need a serious storyline surrounding it?  And does it need either Styles or Nakamura to turn heel to further the storyline?

The answer to both of those questions is no.  Sometimes, putting together a WWE match is as simple as having two great wrestlers face each other without any baggage associated with it.  And no match in recent memory could fit that mold better than Styles vs. Nakamura.

Both Styles and Nakamura are two of the most popular babyfaces in the WWE, so turning one of them heel just for this match would make no sense in the long run.  They both can draw for the company and are two individuals that the WWE can always turn to as top babyfaces.

However, recent WrestleMania history has tended to lean towards having a babyface vs. heel WWE Championship match.  Since 2000, the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania has featured a babyface and a heel 15 times compared to only three times in which both superstars were babyfaces.

Despite the norm suggesting otherwise, The Phenomenal One and The King Of Strong Style both need to remain babyfaces for this would-be WWE Championship match.  These are two superstars that don’t need a serious storyline angle leading into a match.

The only storyline these two need are wanting to be the best and wanting to walk out of the grandest stage of them all as WWE Champion.  Sure, their past match could be brought up from time to time, but as far as the match’s logistics, it needs to remain simple and straight-forward.

Styles and Nakamura don’t need a beef where one turned on the other or one is attacking the other’s family, they need to just simply be world-class wrestlers competing in an epic match.  Plus, if the WWE decided to turn one of them heel for this match, it would be tough to work around past WrestleMania, especially if the company wants to turn that individual back to a babyface.

The SmackDown brand still has the Fastlane pay-per-view in March and Styles is defending his title in a Triple Threat Match against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, but it seems like a certainty that he will retain his title to officially set up the match everybody wants to see at WrestleMania 34.

While many fans are already questioning what the card will look like at WrestleMania 34, it needs Styles vs. Nakamura on it.  And it needs Styles vs. Nakamura to be as simple as possible for the match to reach its fullest potential.  Because let’s be honest, that potential is sky-high and could lead to an all-time great WrestleMania match.

Next: WWE WrestleMania 34 Match Card Predictions

Babyface vs. babyface with no major storyline shenanigans is the perfect way to book a dream match that the WWE universe has wanted for a long time.