7 New Directions For WWE After Saturday Night's Main Event (24 Jan)
5. AJ Styles Finds A Way To Survive Next Week
Obviously, it’d be a huge surprise if AJ’s career did actually end at the Royal Rumble next weekend. WWE’s creative team will have to find some kind of out for the match with Gunther. Maybe having the heel refuse to relinquish a submission, thus causing the ref to reverse his decision and save a career would be the way to go. It'd feel cheap to some, but it may be the only way to avoid putting Styles out to pasture.
On Saturday, AJ worked Shinsuke Nakamura for perhaps the last time. It was a decent watch. Personally, yours truly thought it was a pointless addition to the Saturday Night's Main Event lineup going in, but the veteran pair did add something to the card and played their respective roles perfectly.
They didn't try to have some half hour epic for the sake of it, but instead worked a respect-filled 20-minute match that gave AJ a crowd-popping win to help him build some momentum before tackling a big Austrian chop machine over in Saudi Arabia. In short, the bout acted like a nice little bonus for people attending the show.
Ensuring Styles can march on and enjoy his retirement tour is next up on the goals list for WWE. They could make Gunther look like the most ruthless career killer this side of Randy Orton, but that'd shove AJ out of the scene before WrestleMania, and that just doesn't sound like the right thing to do.
He has to go out on his own terms with more WWE matches and another TNA excursion. Simple as that.