AJ's entrance to the Rumble was essentially the 2016 Daniel Bryan effect. The audience was completely behind him, and it felt like anyone other than him winning was going to get booed. Despite all the hard work both WWE and Roman Reigns had undergone to get the fans back on his side, the Rumble crowd was having none of it. Styles was their guy on the night. Obviously AJ wasn't going to be winning the WWE Championship on his first night in the company - although in hindsight calling an audible and going that route may not have been the worst decision - so getting him out of the bout was going to need to be handled delicately. The decision to have Kevin Owens, one of the only true heels on the roster, be the one to eliminate him was sheer brilliance, because he was able to utilize the rage of the crowd in the proper manner. Had that been virtually any other wrestler on the roster the elimination would not have had the same effect, and K.O tossing him and his subsequent taunting of the newcomer was a thing of beauty and throwback to true, old school heeling.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
