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WWE News: Shane McMahon Opens ‘SmackDown Live’ With Major Announcement About WWE Championship

By Jason Fletcher
Published on: 13:25 PST, Jan 17, 2017

Royal Rumble 2017 will take place on Sunday, January 29, 2017 in San Antonio, TX. John Cena will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship and will attempt to become a 16-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion while Styles will be looking to retain the title that he’s held since September 11, 2016 when he defeated Dean Ambrose at WWE Backlash.

[Image by WWE]

As if facing Cena wasn’t a difficult enough challenge for Styles, SmackDown Live general manager Shane McMahon had some more tough news for AJ on Tuesday’s edition of the show. According to Cageside Seats, McMahon announced that the winner of the Cena vs. Styles match at Royal Rumble will then have to go on and defend the title two weeks later at Elimination Chamber in Phoenix, AZ.

After McMahon announced the news, Styles made a beeline to the ring to express his displeasure. Shane then told AJ how great a wrestler he is, but that he’d like to see him have a better attitude about defending his title. After some back-and-forth, John Cena’s music hit and the 15-time WWE Champion came out to the ring.

Before Cena could even open his mouth, AJ Styles told him he wasn’t allowed to speak and then The Miz’s music hit and “The Awesome One” made his way to the ring along with his wife, Maryse Ouellet. The Miz then went after Styles about how while AJ was in Japan, he was in the WWE beating down John Cena.

The two exchanged insults and then were egged on by Cena before things got heated and McMahon announced a match between The Miz and AJ Styles to happen after the break.

Styles and The Miz went back-and-forth in an entertaining match, but things came to a quick end when AJ pushed The Miz into Cena who was sitting ringside on commentary. Cena then ran into the ring which led to the referee calling for the bell and giving The Miz the victory via disqualification.

After the match, AJ ran out of the ring away from Cena. The Miz tried to take advantage of John’s attention being on Styles and attacked Cena from behind. It turned out to be a mistake as John delivered an Attitude Adjustment to The Miz. Styles attempted to catch Cena with the Phenomenal Forearm, but Cena avoided it and delivered an Attitude Adjustment to AJ as well.

It seems as if AJ Styles, John Cena, and The Miz are locks to be in the Elimination Chamber match, but could there be more contenders involved?

The answer to that question certainly seems to be yes as SmackDown Live showed a promo with Shane McMahon and Dean Ambrose backstage prior to the AJ Styles vs. The Miz match. Ambrose told McMahon that he had something that he needed to talk with Shane about and McMahon instantly told Dean that they could certainly talk about him being a participant in the Elimination Chamber match.

[Image by WWE]

Even though it turns out that Ambrose just wanted a match with Randy Orton for later in the evening, the scene shows that Ambrose will likely participate in the Elimination Chamber match on February 12 in Phoenix, AZ.

[Featured Image by WWE]

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