AJ Styles’ WWE Retirement Rumors Pick up Steam with New Assignment at SNME Before Career-Threatening Match Against Gunther

AJ Styles might call it quits to his WWE career at the Royal Rumble with a loss to Gunther. However, he has something else to take care of as well.

AJ Styles’ WWE Retirement Rumors Pick up Steam with New Assignment at SNME Before Career-Threatening Match Against Gunther

AJ Styles on WWE SmackDown [via- Bloody Slam]

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Just a week before putting his WWE career on the line, AJ Styles has another thorn by his side. ‘The Phenomenal One’ turned up to SmackDown last night upon being invited by general manager Nick Aldis. The latter first flagged his concerns about Styles being willing to risk it all against Gunther at the Royal Rumble.

The 2-time WWE Champion gave it to ‘The Ring General’ for retiring John Cena. But what really upset Styles was the way the Austrian has carried himself in its aftermath. ‘Mr. TNA’ told Aldis that he wouldn’t back down now. AJ knew that wasn’t why the former NWA Champion had implored Styles to come to Montreal.

Aldis then exited the frame, pointing Styles to turn around. ‘The Face That Runs the Place’ got confronted by an old rival in Shinsuke Nakamura. ‘The King of Strong Style’ was also hesitant about AJ’s career-threatening match against Gunther. Shin, however, wanted Styles to prove that he was still ‘The Phenomenal One’ before stepping into the lion’s den in Riyadh.

Nakamura issued a challenge to Styles for a match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. The 48-year-old asked Nick Aldis whether there was still room on the card at SNME, to which the SmackDown GM promptly said yes. That being said, Styles and Nakamura will duke it out at the Bell Centre in quite possibly their last singles bout against each other.

These men go way back in time. They tore the house down at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 10 event over a decade ago, which got the entire wrestling community talking about them. While they were pegged to be one of the great modern-day WWE rivalries of the previous decade, it didn’t work out.

Styles and Nakamura had an underwhelming WrestleMania match in 2018 for the WWE Championship and wrestled quite a few times after that as well. However, turning Nakamura heel wasn’t the right move in hindsight. Now that both men are in the twilight of their wrestling careers, could they right some wrongs? The fans will find out tonight.

Randy Orton stood tall on WWE SmackDown ahead of massive Fatal-4-Way bout at SNME

Tonight’s SNME in Montreal will determine the number one contender to the Undisputed WWE title. Four men, viz., Sami Zayn, Randy Orton, Damian Priest, and Trick Williams, will collide in a Fatal-4-Way match to earn their way into the world title match against Drew McIntyre at the Royal Rumble next weekend. Last night on SmackDown, Williams took on Priest in the main event.

Randy Orton stood tall on WWE SmackDown
Randy Orton stood tall on WWE SmackDown [via- WWE]

Zayn crashed it by going right after ‘Mr. Whoop That’ owing to what had transpired at ringside and also because of Williams badmouthing the former ‘Honorary Uce’ earlier on in the night. Zayn also started unloading on Priest after the latter questioned his interference. ‘The Great Liberator’ booted ‘Trick Willy’ in the corner before eating a superkick, courtesy of ‘El Campeon’.

Williams eventually landed his Trick Shot on the former Judgment Day member to stand tall. But little did he know that Randy Orton, out of nowhere, was waiting for him to turn his back. ‘The Viper’ dropped ‘The Anointed One’ with an RKO and went on to do his signature pose on the turnbuckle. The 14-time world champion later came face-to-face with Sami Zayn.

The two of them exchanged some words for a while. However, as many would have predicted in that moment, Orton ultimately hit an RKO on Zayn to stand tall on the SNME go-home edition of SmackDown. It could most probably mean that ‘The Apex Predator’ isn’t going to win the high-stakes Fatal-4-Way match now.

The fans are leaning toward hometown hero Zayn to embark on that underdog route and outclass his opponents to secure the Undisputed WWE title match with McIntyre at the Royal Rumble. The Syrian-descent wrestler also slapped McIntyre in a brief backstage interaction they had on SmackDown. It does suggest that they’re inevitably lined up for a clash sooner rather than later.

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