WWE WrestleMania 33: AJ Styles shouldn’t be wasted vs Shane McMahon

AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon at WWE WrestleMania 33 could be fun, but it’s also an unnecessary waste of one of their greatest talents

AJ Styles competed in his first ever WrestleMania one year ago as he and Chris Jericho put on one of the best matches on the show. Having debuted just a couple of months prior at the Royal Rumble, his star was already bright. Since then, he’s emerged as one of the faces of the company in its present state, specifically of the new-look, post-WWE Draft SmackDown. Now it’s time for his sophomore effort on the biggest stage at WWE WrestleMania 33.

Standing across the ring from Styles in Orlando on April 2 will be Shane McMahon, who returned to WrestleMania last year for the first time in over a decade. He was still the same Shane O Mac, including a dive off the top of Hell in a Cell that sent him through the announcers table as The Undertaker dodged his daring attack.

To get to this point, WWE has done a fantastic job of building the feud between Styles and McMahon. Styles was previously awarded a title shot against Bray Wyatt as Randy Orton had then refused to fight his mentor at the time, with The Phenomenal One having to tie in a battle royal and then defeat Luke Harper to get to that point. But once Orton revealed his plan and that he would face Wyatt as the Royal Rumble winner, McMahon was forced to pit Orton and Styles against one another for that right. Styles lost.

Following that match, Styles angrily confronted Shane McMahon backstage. From there, things have only escalated. Styles brutally assaulted McMahon backstage, putting his head through a car window as he was looking for a Mania match. At the end of that episode of SmackDown, Shane hobbled out as he felt the effects of his beating and said AJ Styles had his match. The next week, the two brawled, including Shane diving off of the turnbuckle and putting Styles through a table with an elbow drop.

This is a hot storyline, ostensibly. Styles has every reason to want to get his hands on McMahon as a heel. He feels he was wronged of an opportunity to be a headliner. In turn, he gave Shane O Mac the motivation to acquiesce his request by attacking him.

Unfortunately, no build or story excuses the fact that WWE is wasting AJ Styles in this match. Even worse, they don’t truthfully have the time to be able to do so.

Styles is, at the very least, in the conversation for being the best wrestler in the world right now. His first year within WWE is one of the most impressive that fans have seen in quite some time. Be it his long-standing feud and subsequent matches with John Cena or his run with Dean Ambrose, he’s been—no pun intended—phenomenal. What’s more, he’s even grown in regards to his biggest concern, his abilities on the microphone. He’s a full-fledged character and a world-class worker.

The problem with putting him in a match against Shane McMahon off the bat is the simple fact that McMahon is nowhere near the same class of in-ring performer. He’s daring, ballsy and frankly might have a death wish. However, no one is ever going to confuse a Shane O Mac match with Savage-Steamboat. And while Styles is a great foe for him in that The Phenomenal One will help to carry him and make him look great (one of Styles’ biggest strengths), the chances of them being able to produce a 5-star match lean closer to none than slim.

But the problem is actually much more complex than that. When you look at someone like a Sami Zayn or Seth Rollins, if they were to be in this type of match, it’d be disappointing that their in-ring talents were being squandered. However, both guys are in their early 30s (32 and 30, respectively) and have plenty of run left in their bodies generally speaking. That’s not something that you can confidently say about Styles.

AJ Styles will be 39 years old at WWE WrestleMania 33, turning 40 on June 2. What’s more, Styles has been wrestling on the independents since 1998, giving him nearly 20 years of in-ring mileage on his body. If you’ve ever watched a Styles match before, you also know that they aren’t exactly easy miles. For now, though, his supreme athletic gifts and durability have remained. Though we can all hope that doesn’t change, banking on it not changing is playing with fire if you’re WWE.

In essence, that’s what the company is doing, though, by putting him in this bout with Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 33. While it may help sell tickets because of an attraction, it’s a throwaway in terms of the catalog of great AJ Styles matches that it’ll need to stand up against when looking back at his career. To see that happening while the company employs the likes of Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe or even John Cena again is borderline criminal. It’s robbery of a great match for a guy who quietly might not have as many left as you might think.

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Ultimately, it’d be refreshing to be wrong in this case. Maybe Styles vs. Shane is the best match in Orlando at WWE WrestleMania 33 and this argument will be all for naught. As for now, that doesn’t seem like it’ll happen, though. And as someone among many fans who want to see the best wrestlers in the world in the best possible circumstances while they’re still in that category, that’s a shame.