7 WWE Wrestlers Who Deserved Better At WrestleMania 33

by John Bills

1. AJ Styles

AJ Styles
WWE.com

AJ Styles was the number one professional wrestler in the world in 2016. This isn't just a WWE-centric claim either, as the former WWE World Champion put in one of the all-time great years in the history of this glorious sport. Styles put on great matches with John Cena, Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose and more on his way to cementing his position at the top of the WWE food chain. His reward for such an incredible year?

A WrestleMania 33 match with Shane McMahon.

On the one hand this is a major position for the former two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Styles is in a showcase match against the son of the company, a clear sign that those at the top of the sports entertainment tree view him as a major player.

The eyes of those at the top are different to those paying to watch the show though and a match with Shane McMahon almost seems insulting to a performer of AJ Styles' calibre. Corey Graves said it best when he referred to Styles as an 'artist', and on the grandest stage that artistry is to be wasted on a match that will almost certainly be built around one spot, like most Shane McMahon matches.

The match is lose-lose for AJ Styles. If he wins (and Lord should he win) then no big deal, he beat a non-wrestling authority figure. If he loses it may do immense damage to Styles in WWE. The greatest professional wrestler in the world today is to take part in what will be the most sports entertainment-style match of the evening against an opponent so far beneath him in the ring that whatever humour there may have been has long since dissipated.

AJ Styles simply deserves better than that.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.