WWE WrestleMania 33: Assessing The Potential Of All 14 Matches
10. AJ Styles Vs. Shane McMahon
It's the match few, if anybody, wanted to see.
AJ Styles Vs. Shane McMahon is a waste of Styles' talents as arguably the best wrestler on the planet, but he has been entrusted with it because he is so damn talented. It is quite not the demotion many have decried it as.
It also is - Styles isn't going on last nor competing for the company's top prize - but a strong showing here will do his long-term prospects no harm at all. Styles worked wonders with Baron Corbin, in the Triple Threat match with Dolph Ziggler on the 27 December SmackDown, cementing him as the Shawn Michaels carry-job doyen of his generation. Stealing WrestleMania with a non-wrestler might render his portrayal as a heel completely untenable, even among casual observers. Styles might emerge as the (real) top babyface in the company in its wake.
That isn't impossible - Kurt Angle elevated Shane to something impossibly special at King Of The Ring 2001 - but the match remains the most difficult to gauge because Shane liked to portray himself as a genuine hard man in later years, as opposed to the gutsy maniac stunt man of his Attitude Era vintage.
Memories of his annihilation of Randy Orton in the build up to WrestleMania 25 and thrashing of Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins at Survivor Series 2016 remain too vivid to express much enthusiasm.