Styles VS Orton Is On

[Jack-Hammer]

It was announced earlier today that AJ Styles and Randy Orton will square off this Tuesday on SmackDown Live with the winner going on to face Bray Wyatt At WrestleMania for the WWE Championship.

I've got all kinds of mixed feelings about this. First off, I kind of understand why they're going this route. SmackDown Live has had and still does have a good amount of TV time to fill before WrestleMania and there's no ppv in between. As a result, they're going to have to keep putting spins on some of the top programs for WrestleMania to keep things fresh, such as all the surprising, but entertaining, happenings in the WWE Championship picture. After all, you have to admit that it's a lot fresher than ultimately having Styles & Wyatt doing the more traditional weeks of dueling promos with maybe a brawl breaking out before WrestleMania.

At the same time, I can't help but just groan because this ultimately feels like a way to shoehorn Shane McMahon into a top WrestleMania match by doing something to screw AJ Styles out of what's, quite frankly, a well earned WWE Championship shot that strictly lines up with kayfabe. After all, the feeling is that Orton wins this match and Styles loses his title opportunity which will cause him to lash out at Shane McMahon, McMahon will take exception and they'll settle their differences at WrestleMania. This puts all the sympathy squarely in AJ Styles corner and because of that, I'm wondering if this is leading up to a face turn. While it does make me groan, I do have to admit that there's far more potential for this match than with Taker vs. Shane at WrestleMania last year. I love Taker, always have, but he's getting to the point where he can hardly move inside the ring while Styles and Shane, if nothing else, will be able to deliver a fast pace, high energy, impactful match. The downside is that it's all but written in the stars that Shane loses, not that he shouldn't lose but it's just that it's virtually guaranteed. It's always possible that Styles goes over Orton this Tuesday, possibly due to some interference via Bray Wyatt, or interference that results in deciding that this should be a triple threat match.

There are several directions they could go with this and there's entertainment value in any of them. There's not going to be a perfect situation where we all manage to get everything we want in regards to these potential WrestleMania matches, but there's enough entertainment potential that most can still be happy when it's all said and done.

 

[WorstWrestlingExcrement]

It was announced earlier today that AJ Styles and Randy Orton will square off this Tuesday on SmackDown Live with the winner going on to face Bray Wyatt At WrestleMania for the WWE Championship.

I've got all kinds of mixed feelings about this. First off, I kind of understand why they're going this route. SmackDown Live has had and still does have a good amount of TV time to fill before WrestleMania and there's no ppv in between. As a result, they're going to have to keep putting spins on some of the top programs for WrestleMania to keep things fresh, such as all the surprising, but entertaining, happenings in the WWE Championship picture. After all, you have to admit that it's a lot fresher than ultimately having Styles & Wyatt doing the more traditional weeks of dueling promos with maybe a brawl breaking out before WrestleMania.

At the same time, I can't help but just groan because this ultimately feels like a way to shoehorn Shane McMahon into a top WrestleMania match by doing something to screw AJ Styles out of what's, quite frankly, a well earned WWE Championship shot that strictly lines up with kayfabe. After all, the feeling is that Orton wins this match and Styles loses his title opportunity which will cause him to lash out at Shane McMahon, McMahon will take exception and they'll settle their differences at WrestleMania. This puts all the sympathy squarely in AJ Styles corner and because of that, I'm wondering if this is leading up to a face turn. While it does make me groan, I do have to admit that there's far more potential for this match than with Taker vs. Shane at WrestleMania last year. I love Taker, always have, but he's getting to the point where he can hardly move inside the ring while Styles and Shane, if nothing else, will be able to deliver a fast pace, high energy, impactful match. The downside is that it's all but written in the stars that Shane loses, not that he shouldn't lose but it's just that it's virtually guaranteed. It's always possible that Styles goes over Orton this Tuesday, possibly due to some interference via Bray Wyatt, or interference that results in deciding that this should be a triple threat match.

There are several directions they could go with this and there's entertainment value in any of them. There's not going to be a perfect situation where we all manage to get everything we want in regards to these potential WrestleMania matches, but there's enough entertainment potential that most can still be happy when it's all said and done.

It is a shoehorn for Luke Harper to interfere or Bray Wyatt causing disqualification and no one wants to see shame mc moron hog the spotlight with AJ styles in a meaningless feud! I hope wwe doesn t screw up this main event and leave it as a triple threat as is. I see a Luke Harper vs Shane

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

This can end in so many different ways:

a) Styles wins, via interference from Bray.

b) Some kind of no contest that leads to a triple threat.

c) Styles loses and goes after Shane.

And let's be honest here. Had we not read the dirt sheets, c would have never crossed our mind. The build-up has been good and intense between AJ and Shane. The SD creative team has managed to make my mind shift about Styles vs Shane and the mixed tag involving Cena, a little bit, and we still have a long road ahead of us.

For us smarks, there are two obvious results, triple threat or Styles vs Shane.

HBK vs Vince from WM 22 was fun, so why not Shane vs Styles?

Once again, Smackdown brings the entertainment and RAW brings the big matches. Still waiting for the day they'll mix those two up.

 

[Dave]

There is only one way that this match is going to go and that is Randy Orton going on to face Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania. Obviously, Styles is going to come out of the match as the loser and blame Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon for not leaving him in the main event when he had already earned the right to go there. It's simple booking and it leaves it pretty clear cut to me that they are going for AJ Styles versus Shane McMahon. After everything that happened last week on Smackdown between them both, there is no question that it is building to something. Otherwise, what was the point of it all?

The real question is what of Luke Harper? I'd still be okay with Harper being in the main event of Mania, given how closely tied he is to Orton and Wyatt at this point. Not saying he deserves it but I wouldn't even flinch if it happened. Probably though, Harper's time in the main event is over and he ends up in the Andre Battle Royal.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Do we know if Orton is taking a break after Mania? This match feels really premature. These are two guys that have a big match feel to them, not a free TV feel. My guess is that they won't battle too long. Bray will attack Orton viciously giving him the DQ win and Mania spot.

AJ will feel screwed and we will get AJ/Shane furthered. Oh well, that match is growing on me as Shane will make AJ look great while shortening his life by a couple more years. Maybe Angle can somehow be involved as the guy that has had memorable matches with both. Regardless, the writing and presentation has been very good so I'll put my faith in SD to continue to make things interesting.

AJ winning would be the huge surprise since they, you know, burned stuff this week.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

Unless the match ends up not happening (which I can actually totally see) I think this is a missed opportunity, maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's definitely not the right time to do AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton for the first time. It feels pretty deflating after last week's Smackdown ending to have Orton have to fight to get his WrestleMania opportunity back. It's not as if Orton was like "ehhh actually I change my mind, I think I wanna main event WrestleMania this year". If that were the case, I'd be somewhat more open to this match happening but after what he did by essentially burning down Bray's sanctuary and proclaiming that he's going after Bray and his championship at WrestleMania, for it to not be confirmed and essentially be left up to "chance" (even though we all know what we're gonna be seeing in Orlando)... is bleh. Not to mention it doesn't make much sense to have AJ fight for it AGAIN like he didn't earn it last week. I understand that they have to get the AJ/Shane story really going but if that's the case... just have Shane take him out of the match. Having him fight for something that he's already earned again is nonsensical, and no matter what ends up happening the story is gonna be that AJ feels that he was "screwed" out of the opportunity to main event WrestleMania.

The Rumble clause trumps the #1 Contenders match from last week. Orton never signed anything to "officially" give up his WrestleMania spot. Something like that. It wouldn't be the first time WWE's used loopholes to get around a tough spot.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

My take is that it would be much better if Styles won and Orton entered Mania match to protect Bray. Where one or two weeks before Wrestlemania you would have Wyatt/Orton fallout and real triple threat. Like this we all know where it leads and that is Wyatt/Orton for Championship and AJ vs Shane in some kind of gimmick match.

And as much as I like to see AJ vs Orton(without Lame Wyatt would be perfect Mania match) there is simply no logic in Orton having to earn something that he won at Royal Rumble. I dont care if he relinquished opportunity at title in kayfabe so he can screw Wyatt, its still his godamn right to do what he wants with his shot at title. Does that mean that Royal Rumble means nothing? Why didnt Reigns get his title shot then if Ortons opportunity doesnt count and he needs to win against somebody you also promised title shot?

But yeah, as I said, we all know where it leads. So they just create drama to come to the point.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The wrestling fan in me think that maybe it would be better to leabe thing as is with a triple threat after a double dq cause by wyatt.

But the guy that followed wwe wrestling for over 30 years say that logicly, orton should wrestle one on one with wyatt at mania and styles should fight shane. Reason being that both story as been build up for a while now and the next logical step is for orton to win the match next tuesday and for aj to blame shane for all is misfortune lately. Both build up as been really good and I would hate to see that wasted because they want to put aj in a meaninless spot.

The one thing we need to remember is that the mania card is build for the more casual fans so with that in mind, while we might not like having aj involve with shane, a shane mcmahon does attract some fans that remember him during the attitude era, so having one of if not your top heel wrestle shane makes sense business wise and is a great spot for aj to be in. At less he's going to be in a feature match instead of a throwaway spot and this prove how high vince is on aj styles because to get a spot like that at mania is not given to everybody.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Sure they could announce Wyatt vs. Orton and Styles vs. Shane, but they have 3-4 weeks to build these matches.

I'm interested in seeing how they get there. This should be a good match, if it gets time. There will probably be interference, but I'm interested.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

Sure they could announce Wyatt vs. Orton and Styles vs. Shane, but they have 3-4 weeks to build these matches.

I'm interested in seeing how they get there. This should be a good match, if it gets time. There will probably be interference, but I'm interested.

The build up for these matches have already started, it's just how the finish those build up going into mania that will be interesting.

Orton feud with wyatt as been building up since last september and aj styles feud with shane started at the beginning of the year when shane and bryan give a title match to cena for the rumble.

So now, where to they go for here is what's interesting, they have a month to have a great ending to the build up for those matces at mania

 

[d_henderson1810]

It was announced earlier today that AJ Styles and Randy Orton will square off this Tuesday on SmackDown Live with the winner going on to face Bray Wyatt At WrestleMania for the WWE Championship.

I've got all kinds of mixed feelings about this. First off, I kind of understand why they're going this route. SmackDown Live has had and still does have a good amount of TV time to fill before WrestleMania and there's no ppv in between. As a result, they're going to have to keep putting spins on some of the top programs for WrestleMania to keep things fresh, such as all the surprising, but entertaining, happenings in the WWE Championship picture. After all, you have to admit that it's a lot fresher than ultimately having Styles & Wyatt doing the more traditional weeks of dueling promos with maybe a brawl breaking out before WrestleMania.

At the same time, I can't help but just groan because this ultimately feels like a way to shoehorn Shane McMahon into a top WrestleMania match by doing something to screw AJ Styles out of what's, quite frankly, a well earned WWE Championship shot that strictly lines up with kayfabe. After all, the feeling is that Orton wins this match and Styles loses his title opportunity which will cause him to lash out at Shane McMahon, McMahon will take exception and they'll settle their differences at WrestleMania. This puts all the sympathy squarely in AJ Styles corner and because of that, I'm wondering if this is leading up to a face turn. While it does make me groan, I do have to admit that there's far more potential for this match than with Taker vs. Shane at WrestleMania last year. I love Taker, always have, but he's getting to the point where he can hardly move inside the ring while Styles and Shane, if nothing else, will be able to deliver a fast pace, high energy, impactful match. The downside is that it's all but written in the stars that Shane loses, not that he shouldn't lose but it's just that it's virtually guaranteed. It's always possible that Styles goes over Orton this Tuesday, possibly due to some interference via Bray Wyatt, or interference that results in deciding that this should be a triple threat match.

There are several directions they could go with this and there's entertainment value in any of them. There's not going to be a perfect situation where we all manage to get everything we want in regards to these potential WrestleMania matches, but there's enough entertainment potential that most can still be happy when it's all said and done.

This is why I hate the brand extension.

There is too much time between PPVs for "Smackdown". While RAW have four weeks to build for 'Mania , "Smackdown" has 7 weeks, and obviously not enough creativity to keep this feud interesting for that long.

This puts paid to the theory that there should only be four PPVs a year, because it worked in the 80's. Back then, they didn't feature all their main stars across two shows. If you did that today, you would have more nonsense while treading water.

This feud should have been so simple. Orton and Harper feud. Bray declares that the two will have a match, the winner is part of the Wyatts, the other is out (I would have kept the match until "Elimination Chamber", instead of giving the stip away on "Smackdown"), have Harper lose, Bray turns on him, and he and Orton are now the Wyatt Family.

However, it is all a ruse. Wyatt and Harper staged the whole thing, to suck in Orton. What they don't know is that Orton is playing his own mind games, and plans to suck in Bray (by agreeing to give up his WM spot).

It would be intriguing viewing, as we the viewers see each side be nice to each other, but plot against them behind their back. It would create interest on who will turn on who first.

This would be much better than the whole "Will-Orton-challenge-Bray, no-will-A.J.-challenge Bray"?

Personally, I would have kept A.J. out of it. I think it would have been far better to have A.J. Styles v The Undertaker -"The Phenomenal One" versus "The Phenom", and have Roman Reigns v John Cena instead. Both of these matches, along with Bray v Orton, one-on-one, will create more interest for "Wrestlemania" than what they are planning.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

This is why I hate the brand extension.
There is too much time between PPVs for "Smackdown". While RAW have four weeks to build for 'Mania , "Smackdown" has 7 weeks, and obviously not enough creativity to keep this feud interesting for that long.

I disagree with the latter portion of this. I think it's definitely more so a case of Smackdown not being able to officially pencil in their main event for WrestleMania (or any Mania match for that matter) until after Fastlane was done because WWE doesn't want one brand so far in front of the other so Smackdown had to do some pretty significant stalling. You look at the WWE Championship picture, Miz/Maryse and Nikki/Cena and AJ/Shane, they've been slow burning for quite some time now and last week which just so happened to be the week of Fastlane was the first time where things really exploded, I have little doubt that that's just a coincidence. They set it up so that they'll be able to officially announce the top of their card this week, with Fastlane now in the rear view mirror.

 

[thebarber]

absolute waste of what would have been a fantastic match/fued. Orton is clearly going over and on to Mania to face Wyatt. Styles vs Shane. wow. Waste of AJ Styles. How many matches are going to be on this card? I count 15 if they have the Andre battle royal and two womens titles and at least one tag title match.

 

[ShinChan]

I would've liked it to be held at a PPV in future but I can see why this match is scheduled for tomorrow.

This actually makes sense as both Styles and Orton have legitimate right as No.1 contender to WWE World Championship.

I don't think that there's any result viable other than Orton winning. I would love to see AJ Styles be in the title match but it won't make sense.

 

[OYDK]

Whenever somebody says a match is a waste because it should be saved for this huge feud later down the line, you're overthinking it. This match is not going to take away from what should be a good program whenever Styles and Orton eventually do get into it for realsies. Not having matches on TV because the two guys involved might eventually feud months down the line is stupid, and speaking as a fan and not an armchair booker, this is something that makes me want to tune in to Smackdown. The fan in me is happy that Smackdown thinks enough of me to give me a huge match on the Road to Wrestlemania and not the same old shit like another red show that I can name.

Besides, it's not like this is a throwaway. These guys are having a match to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania. Kayfabe wise, it doesn't get much bigger. Sometimes you just gotta be a fan and enjoy, especially when you're getting something that you want.

 

[blueskyy]

All I have to say is, that match on Smackdown was a PPV caliber match. It was a great match, Orton hasn't had this kind of match for a long time.