With Fastlane approaching and WrestleMania 32 right around the corner, WWE needs a bit of a shake-up in some things due to all of the injuries on the main roster. Some new names may need to come in. A few big-time appearances from former stars are needed. Now, a major heel turn took place at the SmackDown taping last night, and it led to AJ Styles being attacked by Chris Jericho .
Please let it be known that there are indeed spoilers ahead for this week’s episode of SmackDown, so if you don’t want to know, stop reading now.
Upon making his debut at the Royal Rumble , no one quite knew where Styles would go from there in WWE. The next night on Monday Night RAW , he had his first WWE match with Chris Jericho and cleanly defeated Y2J.
After the match, Styles and Jericho shook hands and everyone thought that may be the end of it. Since then, Jericho has said how he’d love to have another match with Styles and respected him and was a bit too overly complimentary of WWE’s newest superstar.
It appeared as if things were leading to something bigger, and finally, Styles challenged Jericho to another match. Jericho accepted, and it was set to open SmackDown this week. WrestleZone revealed the spoilers for SmackDown that was taped on Tuesday night , and things got out of hand.
At the start of the taping, Jericho and Styles went out to the ring for their match. Jericho hypes up the crowd and the match with a promo. As they begin, the Social Outcasts interfere, and it turns into a tag match between the teams of Styles/Jericho and Curtis Axel/Adam Rose.
The match ends with the team of Styles and Jericho picking up the win, but that’s when it happens. Chris Jericho officially turns heel by attacking AJ Styles and hitting him with a Codebreaker in the center of the ring. Jericho has officially turned heel.
Jericho not only laid out Styles, but said they would meet again. This is where things get a bit confusing, though.
Later in the night, Chris Jericho and AJ Styles met again in the main event of SmackDown , and the match ended with Jericho picking up a clean victory with the Codebreaker. Some thought that maybe this rematch would have been saved for Fastlane , but it could still happen.
Now, Jericho and Styles are tied 1-1 in their series, and a rubber match could happen at Fastlane with perhaps a stipulation of some kind. The heel turn was hinted at for a couple weeks, but very well done by WWE.
As evident by what happened on Monday Night RAW this week, Jericho was not giving any true sign that he was turning heel. As recapped by WWE.com , he came out and even took over Miz TV, much to the delight of the crowd, and started the “Highlight Reel.”
There was some tension between Styles and Jericho, but it just seemed like two big-time superstars getting heated about who was better. Well, their match was set up, and it seemed as if it may be resolved, but things took an uglier turn.
With Jericho’s heel turn, it sets up things a bit better for Fastlane, and the clean win on SmackDown will give them something more to fight about. Both will have something to fight for, and a lot of pride is on the line, too.
AJ Styles got his first loss in WWE early on in his career with the company, but it’s not like losing to Chris Jericho is anything to be ashamed of. The heel turn of Y2J is great for everyone, though, as he’s even better in that role, and it sets up a rubber match between the two for Fastlane that should be very good.
[Image via WWE]