#1 Contender’s Match Announced for Next Week’s Smackdown
Daniel Bryan has confirmed that AJ Styles will take on Luke Harper next week to determine a new #1 contender to Bray Wyatt’s WWE Championship. The winner of that match will take on Wyatt at WrestleMania 33.
Bryan also said he didn’t restart the battle royal immediately last night, as they were running out of TV time.
BREAKING: #SDLive GM @WWEDanielBryan announces @AJStylesOrg vs. @LukeHarperWWE NEXT WEEK, winner to face Bray Wyatt at @WrestleMania! pic.twitter.com/yhH540pKOS
— WWE (@WWE) February 22, 2017
AJ Styles winning next week would present an interesting dynamic to the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. Both Wyatt and Styles have been played up as ”bad guys”, and typically two bad guys aren’t going to wrestle each other in a championship match, at least not at WrestleMania. They could turn one guy into a babyface pretty easily, but there’s not much time left to do that. WWE might decide to go with Styles vs. Wyatt despite this however, as both guys have fan-bases who cheer for them regardless.
Harper vs. Wyatt at WrestleMania also presents an interesting storyline. The WWE Championship match at WrestleMania could be the platform for the Wyatt/Orton/Harper storyline to develop further.
