AJ Styles made his long-awaited debut at the Royal Rumble just over a week ago now, and since then, no one really knows what direction he will be heading in. He’s had two matches since his debut, but nothing that really says he is going to feud with this wrestler or that. Well, rumors are starting to swirl now that Styles could end up heading for a feud with none other than Triple H.
Styles’ debut in the Rumble match was an incredibly impressive one, as he lasted a full 28 minutes. He eliminated a few superstars and showed that he deserves to be on the big stage, but this was all before he was thrown out by Kevin Owens.
Everyone kind of thought that it appeared as if an Owens vs. Styles feud was in the works, and would be coming from WWE. Maybe that is still the case, and the direction that the company is going in, but they certainly haven’t shown it in the past week.
Maybe they are waiting a little longer to hold off on that feud for WrestleMania 32 , but time will tell.
WWE is currently conducting a poll to see who the fans would like to see AJ Styles feud with next in the ring. As of Monday afternoon, Triple H is leading all voting with 19 percent, but there are a few others that aren’t far behind him.
Neville is second with 15 percent, while Dean Ambrose comes in third with 14 percent, followed by Brock Lesnar with 13 percent.
It’s rather interesting that Triple H would be thrown into this poll at all, considering he’s only just recently returned to the ring as an active wrestler. It’s not expected that he will have many matches all before his WWE Title defense at WrestleMania 32 , and he may not even have any at all.
Oddly enough, Kevin Owens wasn’t included on this list.
On Monday Night RAW, Styles faced off with Chris Jericho in a match that longtime wrestling fans could only ever dream of before. It was a good one, but far too short, but that’s not unexpected considering it was on free TV.
Styles picked up the win with a reverse roll-up, and the two stars shook hands after it was all over. Jericho has said that he wouldn’t mind getting another match, and WWE giving those two about 15-20 minutes would benefit everyone.
On SmackDown , Curtis Axel came down to the ring with the rest of the Social Outcasts and was the second opponent for AJ Styles, as recapped by WWE .
Styles had to deal with outside interference from Adam Rose, Heath Slater, and Bo Dallas, but he dealt with them easily enough. The match was when when Styles broke out the Styles Clash and was able to cover Axel for the pin.
It’s weird, but it almost seems as if WWE isn’t entirely sure what do with AJ Styles just yet.
His debut at the Royal Rumble was a huge happening, and since then, he’s just been kind of there. He has had a couple of backstage segments, a match with Chris Jericho, and then a match with Curtis Axel who is essentially cannon fodder in WWE right now.
That’s not really going up the ladder just yet.
Maybe WWE is really trying to gauge the interest of the fans and see who they would like to see in a match with Styles. By looking at the current WWE main roster and the NXT roster, there are a host of great feuds that could end up coming from Styles’ signing.
- Chris Jericho
- Finn Balor
- Sami Zayn
- Dolph Ziggler
- Neville
- Hideo Itami
- Samoa Joe
- Shinsuke Nakamura (when he arrives)
- Daniel Bryan — If he’s ever cleared to return to the ring
AJ Styles is rumored to have gotten a very big contract from WWE, so they’re not just going to keep him mid-card for his whole career. It’s expected that he will move up into the main event scene at some point, and a feud with Triple H would not just do that, but instantly put him right into the spotlight.
[Image via WWE]