12 Ways WWE Can Still #FreeWrestleMania From Sucking

7. Jericho vs. Styles IV: A New Hope

Chris Jericho's recent high profile heel turn on AJ Styles must be the fastest dissolution of a tag team in living memory. Presumably Y2J has bought himself a job lot of Y2AJ t-shirts to flog now that they're collector's items... but it raises the question of where they go from here. On the up side, their matches to date have been exhibition style bouts, two babyfaces testing each other's limits. That's not remotely the same story as a proper heel vs. babyface grudge match, and while Jericho is a boring, by-the-numbers babyface these days, he still sets the benchmark for quality heelwork in WWE. For a narcissistic rock star, he's remarkably free of ego, and - most importantly - has no interest in being a cool heel and having people like or admire him. When Jericho heels it up, he's truly hateable. On the other hand, we've seen these two compete three times very recently. The match needs a gimmick for the audience to switch gears in their heads - from "seen it all before" to "must see again". I'd suggest a submission match - both men have submission moves as established finishers, and WWE go to the no-disqualification/street fight/falls count anywhere well far too often, and for too little reason. It just doesn't mean as much these days. A submission match adheres to the same rules as a normal singles match, but can't be won with a schoolboy (WWE's preferred way to end a match without finishing it properly). That means they've got to tell a story within the confines of a wrestling match, but one in which you have to hurt your opponent to win. It's perfect for this level of their feud, and leaves the door open to escalate to a cage match or something similar at Payback.