There's no shame in losing to a legend like Chris Jericho, but when Y2J pinned AJ Styles cleanly and decisively on Smackdown last week after hitting a Codebreaker, many felt that it wasn't the best way to push the new star. Their concerns may have been valid, as recent reports have indicated that the finish was not what WWE decision-makers initially had in mind. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the finish of the bout was supposed to come a bit earlier. AJ Styles attempted to leap to the top rope and springboard at Jericho, but the former WWE Champion tripped "The Phenomenal One" up, knocked him to the mat, and covered him... only for the referee to stop the count because Styles was close to the rope. After that, Jericho hit the Codebreaker for the win. The trip-up spot was supposed to be the finish - while not a "dirty" ending by any stretch of the imagination, it would have protected Styles a little bit more than being pinned after Jericho's finisher. In WWE, though, referees are instructed to call matches as though they're real, enforcing rules rather than protecting the story of the match. Given that incidents like this can happen, potentially causing damage to long-term storylines, the wisdom of the policy is questionable.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
