WWE News: Shane McMahon Explains The Real Reason For AJ Styles Being Pushed To The Back Of The ‘Royal Rumble’ Poster

Wrestling fans around the world are preparing for this weekend’s Royal Rumble as it is typically one of the best events put on by WWE every year. The focus should be the championship matches and the Rumble, but many are more concerned with the poster for the pay-per-view (PPV). Even AJ Styles is upset about his placement on the advertisements for the Royal Rumble, but Shane McMahon has finally explained why it looks the way it does.

A couple of weeks ago, Wrestling News had reported that the release of the 2017 Royal Rumble poster had brought about a lot of frustration and anger from the fans.

As you can see, the different match participants and entrants are staggered throughout the poster and leading back to the icon of San Antonio. The front of the poster is focused on three of the big entrants in this year’s Royal Rumble bout; The Undertaker, Goldberg, and Brock Lesnar.

The fourth man on the front row is John Cena, who will take on AJ Styles for the WWE Championship as neither man is in the 30-superstar bout. Behind them, Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair is shown along with Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns, who will face off for the WWE Universal Title.

Cena’s opponent is another three rows back, and the fans have not been happy.

R-Truth and AJ Styles have the same placement on the Royal Rumble poster, you guys. https://t.co/FPmu5h3FEF

— David J. McCutcheon (@ZoopSoul) January 10, 2017

AJ Styles is the best worker at WWE right now. Why is he just in the background of the Royal Rumble’s poster?

— Jake Tibbs (@TommyBoyThe3rd) January 10, 2017

This week, AJ Styles appeared on “Talking Smack” with Renee Young and co-host Shane McMahon who has been filling in for Daniel Bryan. As reported by Wrestling Inc., Styles decided to bring up the fact that he is almost at the very back of the Royal Rumble poster, and he wanted to know why that is.

Styles confronted Shane-O-Mac straight up and demanded to know why he is at the back of the poster, especially since he is the WWE Champion on SmackDown Live. Shane had a simple and straight answer for him.

“Stephanie McMahon actually did the creative for the poster.”

It really does make sense that the commissioner of Monday Night Raw would want to put the competitor’s champion at the back, but Styles fired back with another big point. He said that it was obvious with three Raw guys being on the front line, but that John Cena was also up there.

Styles went on to say that Shane McMahon should have done something about him being pushed to the back of the Royal Rumble poster, but he didn’t. McMahon said the poster doesn’t really concern him and he is focused on the event itself, but that didn’t sit well with AJ.

“But you don’t understand, it’s what you’re saying without saying it. John Cena is important, AJ Styles is not! That’s basically what you said with that poster.”

Give Me Sport and other reports have stated that WWE has plans for AJ Styles to take on Shane McMahon in a huge match at WrestleMania 33 this year. The build-up for the biggest PPV of the year has already started, and it will really pick up once the Royal Rumble is over, so this could be the company planting some seeds.

More than likely, the poster for the Royal Rumble was just created as it was because that is the way it was drawn up. The fact that it has actually been brought up by the WWE Champion and the commissioner of SmackDown Live means that the company is looking into using it. With plans in place for AJ Styles to take on Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 33, this may be only the beginning of their feud which will play out on weekly TV.

[Featured Image by WWE]