WWE Fastlane 2018: Why AJ Styles Must Retain

AJ Styles is set to have to defend his WWE Championship against five other men in a match at WWE Fastlane 2018.

This won’t be the first time that Styles has had to defend his title against other competitors. The Phenomenal One did the same, defending his title against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at the Royal Rumble in January. Now, alongside Owens and Zayn, Styles will have to face off against Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and John Cena.

But the question now is should Styles retain? The short answer is yes, and for a few good reasons. And that is what this is about.

For one, a big reason that Styles should retain is because of just how good of a champion Styles has been. Since winning the WWE Championship back in November, Styles has brought back prestige to both the title and SmackDown Live as a whole. But then again, when the previous champion was Jinder Mahal, that doesn’t say much.

But regardless of that, Styles is without a doubt one of, if not the best  in WWE today. He most definitely deserves to carry the championship, and he shows that week in and week out. The WWE Championship is generally reserved for the best of the best, and Styles is a prime example of who should represent that title.

Now, Styles is facing off against both former and future world champions. So there’s no shortage of talent throughout the match. More than likely it will be the match of the night, unless the New Day and the Usos pull out another candidate. But not only that, it may also start other feuds going into WrestleMania.

However, none of those feuds involve Styles or the WWE Championship, so there’s no reason for anyone else to win. But by having Styles win over five other competitors, it makes him look like a completely dominant champion going into WrestleMania.

Credit: WWE.com

The other reason that Styles must retain is because of his match at WrestleMania. At the Royal Rumble, Shinsuke Nakamura won the opportunity to challenge Styles for his WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

Both Styles and Nakamura are no strangers to each other, having been in NJPW together at the same time. In fact, the two had a stellar match against each other at Wrestle Kingdom 11, which Nakamura inevitably won. So WWE is likely setting this up as the big rematch between the two.

The thing is, this match is probably the biggest money match going into WrestleMania, and WWE knows that. They are not going to mess this up. They know that if there is any match on the card that fans will look forward to the most, it’s this match. And with these two being two of the best performers in the business, the match will surely not disappoint.

WWE did tease at the possibility of a triple threat between Styles, Nakamura and Cena. And while that’d be just as amazing of a match, this is not the time or place for it. Cena will have his own match, most likely against the Undertaker, and the WWE Championship match will remain as is.

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Styles is without a doubt one of, if not the best performers in WWE, maybe in all of wrestling today. He’s been awarded for his greatness with not one, but two different WWE Championship reigns. And while his current reign may come to an end eventually, it should not, and probably will not happen at Fastlane. If WWE is smart, they’ll keep the title on him for a bit longer.