7 Ups And 10 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2017

1. Cena And Styles Steal The Show

John Cena AJ Styles
WWE.com

If you were wondering whether John Cena and AJ Styles could follow up their instant classic from SummerSlam last year, the answer is a resounding “YES!”

Cena and Styles went toe to toe in a battle that featured both men breaking out home run maneuvers, at one point trading submission holds back and forth: Calf Crusher to STF to STF to Figure Four to cross armbreaker. Both men hit their finishers multiple times but were unable to hold their opponent down for three.

In the end, it took Cena hitting two AAs in rapid succession to get the pin after an Avalanche AA failed to do the job. There are going to be plenty of people who say that Cena shouldn’t have gotten his 16th world title reign, that it cuts AJ’s legs out from under him. But Styles clearly showed he’s got the goods, and as long as he isn’t booked like a goof for the next few months, then it’ll all be moot.

Also, kudos for Charles Robinson, aka Little Naitch, being the referee to present Cena with his title, tying him with Ric Flair for the record number of reigns.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.