10 Incredible Last Minute PPV Changes You Never Saw Coming

1. AJ Styles (Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2017 AND Survivor Series 2017)

triple h kurt angle
WWE.com

God Bless AJ Styles. And he’s a religious fella, so why not?

Earning a revered place in the company as a modern day Bret Hart, Styles can now be considered the saviour of two pay-per-views and the WWE Title in the space of a month.

Comfortably becoming the organisation’s finest performer less than two years removed from his surprising Royal Rumble 2016 debut, AJ was literally airlifted in to Monday Night Raw pay-per-view Tables, Ladders and Chairs to take on fellow New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni Finn Bálor only 24 hours removed from working a SmackDown Live! house show in Chile. The contest was the best match of the night by a distance despite leaving room for future hostilities between the two.

One day and yet another Raw bonus match on from that, he looked set to make up the numbers on the blue brand’s Survivor Series team until he was given the nod to release Jinder Mahal’s crippling stranglehold on the WWE Title. In doing so, he marched into a monster clash with Brock Lesnar with just over a week of prep.

‘Phenomenal’ isn’t the g*ddamn word for it - everybody in that g*ddamn dressing room know’s that he’s possibly the best there is, best there was and best there ever will be.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett