WWE News: John Cena Returns But Will He Bury AJ Styles?
John Cena returned to WWE Monday Night Raw this week, and while many thought he would target Rusev and the United States championship, that didn’t happen. Instead, he had a confrontation with AJ Styles. The hashtag #CenaReturns started trending on social media, and then, it all changed to shock when Rolling Stone reported that Styles turned on Cena, and one of the most interesting feuds in years kicked off.
There is a huge problem with this scenario. Whenever John Cena feuds with someone, that wrestler almost always comes out of the feud looking worse than they did when they entered it. AJ Styles has a chance of the same thing happening to him when he starts to feud with Cena, but AJ has the talent to hopefully avoid the burying that happens to many of Cena’s opponents.
The only real optimistic view is that the WWE might see The Club as a version of the nWo, especially with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson saying they were taking over. Gallows and Anderson started a feud earlier on the show with tag team champions, The New Day, and AJ Styles is now feuding with John Cena, the biggest star in the WWE and a bigger main event talent than even the world champion.
That puts The Club in two of the biggest feuds in the WWE right now. Also, as Forbes pointed out, this also paints them with a “shade of gray” when it comes to fan support.
Much like the nWo, there are people who will want to cheer for AJ Styles as he battles Cena, and that is something that always makes feuds with John more interesting. It worked so well with CM Punk, and Styles has a great chance of being a CM Punk style feud for Cena. Styles may not equal Punk on the mic, but the two should have amazing matches as Styles is one of pro wrestling’s top in-ring performers, and Cena is a 15 time World Champion, who also has excellent promo skills.
Bray Wyatt was one of the most impressive and promising heels in the WWE when he entered his feud with Cena. While he was impressive leading into the matches, it was John who always came out looking better, and Wyatt never recovered. Since his feud with Cena, Wyatt has lost most of the feuds he took part in.
A.J. Styles Clubs Super Cena, and all is right with the wrestling world. Our #WWERaw recap https://t.co/RvsW6VaKS3 pic.twitter.com/trDhuEdlDN
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) May 31, 2016
Really, no one has elevated their stock when feuding with Cena since CM Punk, and that is because Punk not only beat John on a regular basis, but he did so cleanly numerous times. AJ Styles has already enlisted the help of The Club, which makes it look like AJ will try to beat Cena with outside help, rather than wanting to do it on his own like he did with Roman Reigns.
It can be argued that Kevin Owens came out of his feud with Cena looking like a star. While he lost two of his three matches with John, Owens has been involved in major storylines since that feud, and that is attributable, in a large part, to Owens charisma, his wrestling ability with amazing quickness for a big man, and his intense desire to make himself stand out in his matches.
The important next step for AJ Styles is to show that he can be a star in the ring with John Cena because more likely than not, the John Cena return feud will end up with John winning more matches than Styles. That is a possibility because AJ lost both matches with Roman Reigns and still looked like a star.
AJ Styles also made Roman Reigns look like a star. That is the biggest positive about this new feud. AJ Styles is a great storyteller in the ring, and John Cena works best against great wrestlers. This could be an amazing series of matches, but one has to hope that the John Cena return won’t end up burying AJ Styles when their feud is all said and done.
[Image via WWE]
