WWE Royal Rumble: WWE Championship - AJ Styles (c) VS John Cena

[Jack-Hammer]

During his return promo on tonight's episode of SmackDown Live, John Cena declared he'd face the winner of the triple threat main event for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble. AJ Styles successfully defended the title against Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler, so it'll be Styles vs. Cena III at the Rumble.

I've little doubt that this match will steal the show as they've brought the house down in their two singles encounters, though everyone primarily remembers their match at SummerSlam. The notion of Cena winning the title at the Royal Rumble is a real possibility, but I don't see it happening. Styles has been a great WWE Champion and deserves to carry the title into WrestleMania; John Cena will be a 16 time World Champion, I just don't think it'll be at the Royal Rumble.

 

[Navi]

Styles has had one of the best debut years in the WWE no doubt about it, but I'm not sure he will start out 2017 retaining the WWE championship. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see him strut into Mania holding the title, but if you watched Talking Smack tonight, Cena is one focused guy.

He said that all the talk about him being a part timer now, making movies and taking time off, has just added fuel to the fire. He still sleeps, breathes and bleeds wrestling and he is out to prove that to himself and the fans. He also said that wrestler's taking time off is nothing new as Orton, Miz and others have taken a hiatus to film other projects, so basically he's just doing what others have done before him.

I do think it will be one hell of match and might be the match of the night. The other match between Reigns and Owens just doesn't have the big match feel this one does.

 

[ShinChan]

I don't think that Styles will win again against John Cena at Royal Rumble.

I would love a Styles title reign until at least Wrestlemania 33. But I guess that his reign ends here. WWE might be building Undertaker Vs. John Cena at Wrestlemania 33 for the World Title. I have no problem if that happens but I would still prefer AJ Styles Vs. The Undertaker for the title at Wrestlemania 33. For that, Styles will need to be 3-0 against Cena and I doubt it. Still, I'm more interested in Smackdown's main event scene than that of Raw's.

 

[ramblinroy682]

I get why they are going Cena here, but I would rather see AJ vs Samoa Joe, Nakumura, or the Miz. If Cena goes over, im hoping they pull the trigger on a heel turn for Cena. I'd love to see him embrace the guy he appears to be in real life. The suit wearing, fancy pants guy he seems to be on total divas. hell, give him a faction. Let AJ be a face trying to overcome the odds.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I'm kinda sad that it's not gonna be Styles vs Undertaker, but who cares, Styles vs Cena will be equally good, if not better. It's a feud that deserves a world title match. As to who wins, I don't really care if Cena wins here and faces the Undertaker as a 16-time world champion at WrestleMania, but I've said this before, Cena vs Undertaker doesn't need the title belt.

Not that 16-time world champion John Cena vs The Undertaker in a title vs career match does not sound SUPER FREAKING AWESOME. Well yeah, it does.

Styles is 2-0 against Cena, going 3-0 would be amazing, but I guess it's time for Cena to get back his big win and win the 16th championship in front of 60,000 people. This Rumble needs a big moment and Owens vs Reigns is not the match that will give us that moment.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I think Undertaker costs Cena the title in this match leading to their WrestleMania encounter that for some strange reason has never happened before.

As for Styles, I see Samoa Joe debuting at the Rumble and having a strong showing, possibly the final 3 or so, then winning a number one contender's match along the way to challenge Styles at Mania. Who else could Styles face at the big event? Ziggler? Orton is a possibility, but I have a feeling this Wyatt thing will drag out until Mania where Orton will beat him clean.

I'll take Styles to win, though not necessarily clean. He got the clean big win over Cena, there's nothing left for him to prove in the feud and it won't hurt Cena to finally lose a feud. There is the chance of Cena winning and defending the title against Undertaker at Mania, but I feel that's a bit much especially considering that match wouldn't need a title.

 

[LODemolition]

I fully expect Taker to get involved in this match because: A) Cena vs Taker or even Styles vs Cena vs Taker are 2 great avenues to go with for WM33, and B) Styles completely deserves to retain and go into WM as champ, but they can't have Cena lose clean. Not to mention when Cena wins his 16th championship, it would be better saved for Mania or SummerSlam.

I am still holding out some hope for a Styles vs. Wyatt WWE Championship match at Mania though, with Wyatt finally getting his well-earned first run as champ.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I don't see AJ Styles retaining the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble, because I don't think there is any way that John Cena will lose a third time (although he kind of did in the triple threat match). I don't know if John Cena will carry the WWE Championship into WrestleMania and successfully defend it against Undertaker (IF he faces Undertaker). It would make more sense for him to do so since Undertaker doesn't work a full schedule. If AJ Styles does indeed lose the title, then I hope he can pick up a victory at WrestleMania. I wish he could face Randy Orton, but since it's too soon to know what will happen with Randy Orton going forward, I can only hope. Other than him, there are plenty of other guys that I would love to see AJ Styles face such as Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode, Austin Aries. I don't know if any of these guys will get on the main roster in time or at all. The dream opponent would be Kurt Angle, but that's also just a rumour that I'll have to believe when I see it. If AJ Styles somehow DOES retain his WWE title at Royal Rumble with another victory over John Cena, then I will be completely shocked. Even if it's not a clean win, I'll still be shocked. In that case, I don't know if John Cena will ever beat AJ Styles. There really is no one else for AJ Styles to face going forward to WrestleMania unless one of the aforementioned NXT guys come over and start a feud with him. Whatever the case is, I'm sure it'll be good and worth seeing. I hope 2017 will be another stellar year for AJ Styles.

 

[WorstWrestlingExcrement]

Well as I said it AJ Styles will be a jobber styles when cena beats him for the wwe title at wrestlemania 33! It is too bad he can t hang on to it and beat CM Punks record anyways! That is when AJ Styles will lose it afterwards and be jobbed completely and put on the shelf afterwards!

 

[ShinChan]

Well as I said it AJ Styles will be a jobber styles when cena beats him for the wwe title at wrestlemania 33! It is too bad he can t hang on to it and beat CM Punks record anyways! That is when AJ Styles will lose it afterwards and be jobbed completely and put on the shelf afterwards!

A blatantly ignorant opinion...

Let's assume that Cena defeats AJ Styles for the title at Wrestlemania 33. How does that intend to mean that AJ Styles is a jobber of all things? In current situation, even Chris Jericho isn't a jobber. Getting defeated and jobbing are different, for your kind information. AJ Styles jobbing to Cena is totally ridiculous considering he's undefeated against Cena in 3 matches. Even if Cena wins a couple of matches by defeating AJ, that would make the score 2 each for winning. Stop confusing jobbing with a defeat.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

AJ SHOULD go into WrestleMania as Champion, he certainly deserves it, but if he is going to lose the title I'd rather have him do it here than at Elimination Chamber.

If AJ is to retain though the title picture heading into WrestleMania worries me. I don't see a viable opponent for him assuming Cena/Taker and Orton/Wyatt are on the card. I almost feel as if it would be better for Cena to beat him just so the WWE Championship could be put in the forefront and (possibly) main event the show instead of god forbid having something along the lines of AJ vs. Ziggler or Corbin which, although I'm sure would be a fine match especially after seeing the Triple Threat on Smackdown would probably be the 5th maybe even 6th most important match on the card.

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

A blatantly ignorant opinion...

Let's assume that Cena defeats AJ Styles for the title at Wrestlemania 33. How does that intend to mean that AJ Styles is a jobber of all things? In current situation, even Chris Jericho isn't a jobber. Getting defeated and jobbing are different, for your kind information. AJ Styles jobbing to Cena is totally ridiculous considering he's undefeated against Cena in 3 matches. Even if Cena wins a couple of matches by defeating AJ, that would make the score 2 each for winning. Stop confusing jobbing with a defeat.

You really need to learn which posters to respond to and which ones are idiot trolls that should be ignored. He is the latter. He's been saying Styles will be a jobber ever since he came to WWE. He hasn't had much to say since it's been the exact opposite since he showed up.

This is a match that I could see going either way and I wouldn't have a problem with either result. I guess it all depends on how quickly they want Cena to get his 16th, and probably 17th, title reigns on the books.

The only issue I see, and this is more a problem with Smackdown as a whole than anything else, is where does Styles go after this? Title or not, he's finished with Ambrose. I would suspect he'll be done with Cena before WM. Orton will probably be working with Wyatt. Who else is there? I guess if there's ever a time to build up others, it's now.

 

[kadroan]

Styles has had one of the best debut years in the WWE no doubt about it, but I'm not sure he will start out 2017 retaining the WWE championship. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see him strut into Mania holding the title, but if you watched Talking Smack tonight, Cena is one focused guy.

He said that all the talk about him being a part timer now, making movies and taking time off, has just added fuel to the fire. He still sleeps, breathes and bleeds wrestling and he is out to prove that to himself and the fans. He also said that wrestler's taking time off is nothing new as Orton, Miz and others have taken a hiatus to film other projects, so basically he's just doing what others have done before him.

I do think it will be one hell of match and might be the match of the night. The other match between Reigns and Owens just doesn't have the big match feel this one does.

I hate how watered down Owens is. This isn't the same Owens that feuded with Cena.

 

[kadroan]

I think Undertaker costs Cena the title in this match leading to their WrestleMania encounter that for some strange reason has never happened before.

As for Styles, I see Samoa Joe debuting at the Rumble and having a strong showing, possibly the final 3 or so, then winning a number one contender's match along the way to challenge Styles at Mania. Who else could Styles face at the big event? Ziggler? Orton is a possibility, but I have a feeling this Wyatt thing will drag out until Mania where Orton will beat him clean.

I'll take Styles to win, though not necessarily clean. He got the clean big win over Cena, there's nothing left for him to prove in the feud and it won't hurt Cena to finally lose a feud. There is the chance of Cena winning and defending the title against Undertaker at Mania, but I feel that's a bit much especially considering that match wouldn't need a title.

I could see Taker interfering. Definitely would get fans talking. I believe SDL has Elimination Chamber so I guess Joe could compete in a EC match and win the rights to face AJ at WM.

Yeah, Taker vs. Cena doesn't need the title but we saw in 2013 with Rock vs. Cena, they added the title anyways.

 

[CH David]

I really don't see why Undertaker vs. Cena would be made any better because of the title. Title vs. Career? No thanks. I'd rather somebody else get the rub for retiring Taker, or Kane doing it, and I'd rather Undertaker not win the title as he is barely around anymore. Love him, but a title shot, nah. Both Cena and Taker are above the title and they don't need that to add to what would be a pretty insane WM setup. I'd love to see the match, just not for the title.

As far as the Rumble Championship match goes... I'd love to see AJ win. I think we all would. I haven't seen Cena this intense in a while though. (That could be because I've been watching sparingly the past few years) It's a huge venue, Cena is one win from tying Flair, makes sense to me. No matter what though, I hope this is a war. They've already had two fantastic matches and they should be wanting to step their games up even more. Win or lose, AJ has had a (pun half intended half not) phenomenal run with the belt.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

You need some big attraction matches for mania and what would be bigger then cena vs taker for the title. Maybe even a title vs career match were you could give a proper sendoff for taker

So nothing against aj styles, he's been the mvp of smackdown since he won the title but cena is cena and he will always be the biggest mainstream name in wwe and that what you want to headline your biggest show of the year so sadly, I think this is where cena finally wins his 16th world championship.

 

[CH David]

You need some big attraction matches for mania and what would be bigger then cena vs taker for the title. Maybe even a title vs career match were you could give a proper sendoff for taker

But it's SO obvious that Cena would win in that situation. If it's title vs career then Taker is done and retiring. And I'm sorry, Taker isn't fit to wrestle with the title anymore. He's been on one show since WM 32. Logically speaking it would be incredibly obvious.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

But it's SO obvious that Cena would win in that situation. If it's title vs career then Taker is done and retiring. And I'm sorry, Taker isn't fit to wrestle with the title anymore. He's been on one show since WM 32. Logically speaking it would be incredibly obvious.

Yeah just like it was painfully obvious with the hbk/flair match that flair wasn't winning that match and the taker vs hbk second match we're you knew that hbk wasn't winning the match.

The result of the match isn't important in this situation, it's the storytelling and these can make you forget about that fact that it's obvious that taker isn't winning because they are 2 of the last guys in the business that know how to tell a story in the ring and make fans forget that it's all predetermine and that what westling should be about

 

[CH David]

Yeah just like it was painfully obvious with the hbk/flair match that flair wasn't winning that match and the taker vs hbk second match we're you knew that hbk wasn't winning the match.

The result of the match isn't important in this situation, it's the storytelling and these can make you forget about that fact that it's obvious that taker isn't winning because they are 2 of the last guys in the business that know how to tell a story in the ring and make fans forget that it's all predetermine and that what westling should be about

The fun thing about both of your examples...THEY WEREN'T FOR A TITLE! That kinda proves my point. Regardless, we don't know where this situation goes, or if it even will. For me it hinges on this match. If AJ wins, Cena vs. Taker. Cena wins, it's up in the air. I'd say WWE wins with Styles getting the W, but I'm a mark for AJ so take that with a grain of salt.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I don't want to be that guy, but somebody has to point out the fact that at the Royal Rumble, it will be IWC gods vs Vince's gods: Owens vs Reigns and Styles vs Cena.

 

[Dave]

This match has all sorts of potential and I am looking so forward to seeing it.

I was never a massive fan of AJ Styles until he showed up in the WWE and, even in TNA, I thought that he was kinda over-hyped. But since he joined the WWE and I have had a lot more exposure to him, I can honestly say that he is a one of a kind talent. He has carried Smackdown Live over the past year and he deserves to head to WrestleMania as the WWE Champion.

That said, I really like John Cena. He might not have a personality and he might be a kind of robot sent through space and time to run the WWE and control China... But who cares? He is a great wrestler and he has been one of the high points of the WWE over the last decade, all things considered. If he is to go above and beyond the record of Ric Flair, then I am really glad that I get to witness that in person. A lot of people don't know what they have until it's gone and I think that goes for John Cena. One day he will up and leave the WWE and we will miss him.

So it leaves me in an odd position with this match in that I really don't care who wins it. And it's not because I don't care about the result and I don't care about the participants. If anything, it's because I care too much. Either way, this match is probably going to be match of the night, given their history together. I just want to sit back and enjoy it.

For me though, Cena picks up the win.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Cena can't win after his verbal destruction of Styles the other day. What message would that send? I know they don't care about these things but I do.