Why Jinder Mahal v. AJ Styles could have major Wrestlemania Implications
I know WrestleMania is still a few months away and maybe it is a little too early to start talking about WrestleMania matches (except for the near-certain Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns main event match for the Universal Championship).
However, I have a theory and if I am correct, then a certain match at Clash of Champions could get the ball rolling for the biggest show of the year. That match is the WWE Title match between AJ Styles and Jinder Mahal. I know some of you are thinking "Why this match over Owens-Zayn vs. Orton-Nakamura?"
If AJ Styles retains the WWE Title this Sunday, my theory is that Shinsuke Nakamura will win the Royal Rumble and challenge Styles for the belt at WrestleMania in New Orleans. I see a SmackDown Live superstar winning the Rumble in both of my scenarios since the Elimination Chamber is a RAW Exclusive PPV (more on that in a moment).
So, I see no need for someone from RAW to win the Rumble when they will have a #1 Contender's Chamber match at that show. As for the Elimination Chamber PPV itself, Brock Lesnar is not scheduled to appear at the show as of now, so the title will not be defended from the Royal Rumble until WrestleMania.
Since it is all but set in stone I see Roman Reigns winning the Chamber match and challenging Lesnar for the belt at WrestleMania. As for what Styles would do until WrestleMania, I can see him feuding with Kevin Owens and/or Sami Zayn.
I know we already saw Owens v. Styles aplenty during the summer but Owens is in the main storyline right now and there really are no other credible heels on the Smackdown roster
Styles said after Hell in a Cell that he would help Shane McMahon in his battle against Kevin Owens, if he needed it. So WWE can build on that. Styles could face Owens or Zayn at the Rumble and face the other at Fastlane, going into WrestleMania.
As for Mahal, I could see him going into the United States titles picture in this scenario. I see Bobby Roode taking the belt from Baron Corbin at or around the Royal Rumble and if that happens a Mahal vs. Roode feud would be a perfect spot for him.
If Mahal regains the title, then I have John Cena winning the Royal Rumble. It was heavily rumored before Mahal dropped the belt last month that he would hold onto the belt until WrestleMania where he would drop it to Cena (with that being Cena's record breaking 17th World Title win).
There was even a poster for Survivor Series with Mahal and Lesnar with Cena as the special referee for the match which would lead to Cena vs. Mahal at WrestleMania (with the story being that Mahal blames Cena for him losing the match to Lesnar at Survivor Series).
The only problem with this scenario is that there are no credible faces on SmackDown Live for Mahal to feud with if he wins the title back. He has already beaten Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura multiple times.
If he wins the title back from Styles they can probably extend the feud until the Rumble but what they do for Fastlane would be a huge question mark. In this scenario Roman Reigns still goes on to win the Elimination Chamber and challenges Lesnar for the Universal Title. As for Nakamura, who I had facing Styles for the belt at WrestleMania, he would go on to face Randy Orton, who will have turned heel on him at this point.
Besides not having anything planned for Orton and Nakamura at this point why else would they be teaming together if this isn't leading anywhere? Plus, it is well known that Orton wants to be a heel and a heel Randy Orton is the best Randy Orton so it would be a perfect fit.
The other key to my theory and scenarios is John Cena. I have Cena winning the Rumble match if Mahal wins the title back. What if Styles retains you ask? Well since Cena is still technically a "free agent" and can appear on both shows at will I can see him being on RAW and facing a RAW superstar at WrestleMania.
The main person who I had in mind for this is Samoa Joe. Joe, who is currently feuding with Roman Reigns for the Intercontinental Championship, will most likely take the belt from Reigns sometime before WrestleMania so Reigns can turn his attention to Lesnar.
Which belt hasn't Cena won yet in his decorated career? The Intercontinental Championship. Also, Joe and Cena already have built in heat as when Cena was last on RAW to feud with Reigns he and Joe went face to face so it makes all sense in the world to have this match go down at WrestleMania.
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