5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE SmackDown Live (July 26)
4. AJ Styles
John Cena pinned AJ Styles at Battleground to put them at one pinfall apiece in their personal rivalry, and effectively set-up a big rubber match at SummerSlam. It was a logical booking step: AJ’s Money in the Bank victory came thanks to The Club’s interference, while Cena had pinned him in a tag team match, not a singles. The next logical step would be a straightforward interference-free one-on-one clash to settle the beef at SummerSlam, and while that’s still almost certain to happen, Styles came-out of SmackDown looking much weaker than when he came-in.
Participating in the evening’s number one contendership Six-Pack Challenge, AJ Styles didn’t just fail to win: he was pinned cleanly by Dolph Ziggler. Nobody expected Styles to go over here with the Cena rematch looming, but by having Styles lose for the second show in a row, WWE have severely undermined one of their most bankable feuds, and diminished Styles’ lustre as a result.
The sky’s not falling here, of course. Styles and Cena are excellent big match performers, and they’re still going to produce one of SummerSlam’s best matches, but WWE now have significant work to do to regain Style’s forward-motion. The Phenomenal One is among the best wrestlers in the world, but he’s 39 years old: WWE can’t afford to bury him in the lead-up to SummerSlam, particularly if they plan on having him challenge for the title someday.