What’s Next for AJ Styles?

After last Sunday, everyone was talking about one person: Ronda Rousey. They were also talking about Shinsuke Nakamura. The King of Strong Style is now guaranteed to have a WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania. You know who isn’t guaranteed a spot? AJ Styles.

You see, Shinsuke gets to challenge the champion, so if AJ wants to face Nakamura at Wrestlemania, he has to remain champion for two more months. What can happen between now and April? What’s next for AJ Styles?

Defeating Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

AJ Styles managed to escape Philadelphia with the WWE Championship still around his waist. However, with the way his title defense ended, I don’t believe that his business with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn is over just yet.

Owens was pinned despite not being the legal man, and although it is his own fault (what with him attempting to bamboozle the referee), he is technically right. I believe that perhaps Shane McMahon will arrange a match of sorts between the three. A triple threat, maybe?

Of course, Shane could always just deny Owens and Zayn, but Daniel Bryan might not go with Shane’s flow. So when Owens, Zayn, and Styles meet again, I fully expect Shane to interfere and cost the best friends another shot at the WWE Championship. From there, the Canadians can go after the commissioner, and AJ Styles can go his own way.

Fastlane

Before he can go toe to toe with Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestlemania, AJ Styles has one bump in the road: Fastlane. No doubt he will defend his WWE Championship at the event (who is he, Brock Lesnar?), so the only question that remains is who his opponent will be.

He’s done with Jinder Mahal, and hopefully he’ll have left Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in the dust. Nakamura is off-limits. Perhaps Baron Corbin challenges the Phenomenal One. Or maybe even Randy Orton fights Styles. Even an outlandish suggestion like Rusev is not too absurd. It’s hard to say right now. All we know is that Styles will be fighting tooth and nail to retain. He was screwed out of the WWE Championship last Wrestlemania season; Styles will make it his goal to walk into and out Wrestlemania as the WWE Champion. He must face Shinsuke Nakamura.

The Dream Match

Yes, the one that everyone’s been waiting for. Shinsuke Nakamura. AJ Styles. WWE Championship. Wrestlemania.

It’s been nearly a year in the making. After Nakamura debuted on Smackdown after Wrestlemania, people knew this match was going to happen. It was only a matter of when and why. Could it be for the US Championship? The WWE Championship? A blood feud? Would it happen at Wrestlemania? Or would they waste it on a B-PPV like Fastlane? Our questions are now answered.

It’s actually quite amazing that WWE has avoided putting these two men in a match together for this long. Sure, they teamed together. They were both competitors in the Money in the Bank ladder match, but that doesn’t count. Nakamura was absent for most of the match, too. No deal.

Come April, the King of Strong Style and the Phenomenal One will finally clash again. No matter the result, we already know that the match will be phenomenal.