WWE Royal Rumble: WWE Championship - AJ Styles (c) VS Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

[Jack-Hammer]

In the closing moments of last night's episode of SmackDown Live, Daniel Bryan, after Styles frustratingly said that they might as well put him in a handicap match at the Royal Rumble, did indeed make a handicap match. As a result, AJ Styles defends the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

Now, this was the most overtly heel action we've seen Daniel Bryan take, though I'm sure his explanation will be that he's doing it all for the WWE Universe. If the plan is to turn Bryan heel, then it just seems backwards because fans love to cheer for Bryan and Shane more easily fits into the mold of a heel. As a McMahon, Shane spent most of his time in WWE as a heel and while it's a novel idea for Bryan and Shane to be cast in opposite roles, it just doesn't really work all that well for me.

In the coming weeks, don't be at all surprised to see them go the route of having dual referees in the same sense that we saw at Clash of Champions. Unfortunately, this shows an aspect of Vince's creative vision that LOTS of fans are sick and tired of: making non-wrestlers the focus of the top storylines. I'm a big fan of Daniel Bryan, always have been, but if WWE's not going to let him wrestle, then both he and Shane need to be kept as characters we only see for a few minutes each week.

There's little chance Styles drops the title here but the story isn't on the WWE Championship, which is where it should be. Instead, it's on a part time wrestler who hasn't won a match in years and a former wrestler who's dying to wrestle but the company won't clear him.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Does Zayn steal the pin leading to a slow burn breakdown in relations between he and Owens? I suppose Owens could win but Sami, as the guy lowest on the totem, would surely just accept that.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I feel Bad for Aj Styles in all of this because he feel like a bit player in the bigger feud of Shane, Bryan, Owens & Zayn and he shouldn't be a pawn in all of this. Last Year, AJ Styles had the match of the year in my opinion against Cena and this year, he's reduce to this.

Having said that, i feel like Somehow, Shane will help AJ Styles retain the title maybe by taking out Owens which will lead to Zayn getting beat by AJ Styles either that or they will do the dual referee thing again and this time Shane will be able to screw Owens because Bryan will be either knockout or distracted by zayn.

 

[legendkiller1979]

AJ better win. There have been plenty of instances in the past where the deck was stacked against the champion and he came out on top. He is infinitely better than either of his opponents. If WWE is true to their work of listening to the fans, then they hear that AJ is the most popular wrestler in the company and it's not close. We are close to Wrestlemania to treat the WWE championship like a joke. We just got done doing that with Mr 3MB holding the title for way too long. Is the yep movement entertaining? Yep! Does either guy have what it takes to put on a wrestlemania match that can hold a candle to AJ Styles? Absolutely not.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

This feels like complete nonsense. There is a title on the line, do Owens and Zayn share the title if they win? I guess it is possible. It certainly doesn't feel like something in Owens' character to share but I guess I can stretch my belief there. Plus there is time to get the question answered. Where I am struggling to stretch my belief is with DB booking this. Sure it was kind of a whim and at Styles' sarcastic suggestion but it is too blatant and heelish for this story. Maybe I just don't want to believe that DB is the heel here, maybe I just have to accept that is who he is now and put my faith in AJ as the true face. It just all feels wrong. It feels like they took a strong developing story between Owens/Zayn v SD authority figures and Shane v his own ego and just muddied it up. This is certainly a case where my own fantasy booking has gotten in the way of enjoying a story, but still, this all feels wrong, hasn't been too entertaining lately and is unlikely to have much of a payoff.

I'll predict AJ wins with Shane some how helping him out. Maybe DB helps him out.

Or maybe DB booked the match so that Owens would turn on Zayn for the title, helping Zayn realize that Owens would never hold Zayn on his level, and breaking them up. This would impress Shane as his boss and give DB reason to tell Shane to have more faith in him as GM. Nah, too complicated.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

After thinking about it a little bit more, i feel like this could be a way of teasing the break up of Owens and Zayn and that'S was Bryan's plan all along which would lead to Yet another Zayn vs owens match but this time at Wrestlemania.

If i'm right about this, i'm would kinda be sad about this because Zayn as been doing such a great job since turning heel and these 2 are way better together then Jericho and Owens last year. But let's wait and see. Maybe i'm totally wrong and this lead to a daniel bryan heel turn.

 

[#hamler]

It's entirely sad the most prestigious Championship in wrestling's history is playing an after thought in this feud that relies so heavily on Shane McMahon and the authority figure. Aj deserves better than this as does everyone else in this match not named Shane. I'm expecting a decent enough match as it'll certainly be an interesting one. With Styles on the losing end of numerous matches of late, I fully expect him to overcome the odds and win here. As he should.

The WWE Championship needs far away from this pathetic storyline that involves turning the adorable Daniel Bryan heel so Aj wins and faces Nakamura for the Championship at Wrestlemania while Owens & Zayn do some sort of tag team match.

Hamler's Prediction: Aj Styles will retain the WWE Championship.