Recently, WWE superstar AJ Styles revealed his opponent choice for next year’s WrestleMania 34 , and it could create a huge dream match. The WWE’s biggest pay-per-view each year brings plenty of buzz and often gives fans some first-time ever battles in the ring. “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles not only named his opponent choice, but he also named a major superstar from WWE Raw he probably won’t be facing anytime soon. With that said, will the SmackDown Live star get his dream match next year in New Orleans, and will it be with a major WWE Championship on the line?
According to Sportskeeda’s Johnny Payne, Styles was part of a question and answer session at Wizard World Columbus. During the Q&A, Styles named two superstars who he would love to get in the ring with at WWE’s WrestleMania pay-per-view in the future. One of those superstars was “The Demon” Finn Balor, but Styles brought up the fact that they’re both on different brands, so he felt the match might be less likely to happen. However, one guy on the same roster as AJ Styles is “The King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura, who is the man Styles said he wants to face on “the grandest stage of them all.”
Styles commented on the reasons he named Nakamura as his dream opponent at Mania .
“I’m picking Shinsuke. Sorry, that’s nothing on Finn Balor. The reason why I say this is because at WrestleMania , it’s not going to happen with Finn Balor and I. Why? Because he’s on RAW .
“Shinsuke’s my best chance getting into that main event picture at Wrestlemania , that’s why he wins the championship. I hope he wins it so I can get in there and wrestle him at WrestleMania.”
With Finn Balor, it’s an interesting answer from Styles. His answer comes based on the fact there are two unique rosters. However, he fails to mention that John Cena somehow became a free agent and can move between brands. Additionally, there may be more roster “shake ups” coming that could move either AJ or Finn to the other’s show. And even if those two things don’t happen, matches involving stars from the different brands aren’t unique for a pay-per-view event. Even Survivor Series set up team battles involving the two different brands.
By the way, it’s not the first time the idea of AJ Styles facing Shinsuke Nakamura has been brought up. “The Phenomenal One” mentioned their encounter at Money in the Bank and his expectations that a match could happen soon.
“I see that match happening sooner rather than later…” – @AJStylesOrg on a potential showdown with @ShinsukeN ! #TalkingSmack pic.twitter.com/rxn1DpgKyc
— WWE (@WWE) June 22, 2017
As far as Styles vs. Shinsuke happening at Mania , there have been rumors that these two would meet at next year’s pay-per-view, but nothing seems set in stone. The two SmackDown stars have been in the ring together as tag team partners and even gave that preview of what a WWE match between them could look like. Back at this year’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the two battled toward the finish of the men’s ladder match, but ultimately they were disrupted by the match winner, Baron Corbin. He’s now lurking as Mr. Money in the Bank while Shinsuke will compete for the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam . Styles will defend the U.S. title against Kevin Owens at the pay-per-view event .
Based on Styles’ answer, it would mean that Nakamura would need to win the WWE Championship sometime between now and WrestleMania . That could happen as early as next week’s SummerSlam pay-per-view. By next April, Styles and Shinsuke are going to seem very deserving of a major WrestleMania moment, but only one would get it in that match with a win and the championship going home with them. That said, the fans would all be winners in seeing this sort of epic clash in the ring happen at one of the biggest professional wrestling pay-per-views of the year.
[Featured Image by WWE]