AJ Styles vs. John Cena
The first PPV match they had was hampered by Cena being rusty after time off. This being a hardcore fan base Styles is the babyface and Cena the heel, which is contrary to the actual alignments. The duelling chants are not 50-50 it’s more like 85-15. Styles is all fired up and Cena actually looks intimidated, which is great selling from Big Match John, who’s never taken out of his element by an opponent unless it’s Lesnar or someone huge. “I ain’t all smiles. It’s time to get serious” says John. I love when microphones pick up the trash talk. Normally John’s loud calls get caught too but the benefits outweigh the negatives. With the women leaving it all in the ring earlier these guys are eager to not be outshone and Styles hits a suplex on the apron. The crowd are way into this and hate everything Cena does. They throw the Styles Clash in, casual as anything, for a near fall. I don’t understand that move not being death, when it has legitimately broken necks. Ask Yoshi Tatsu! Cena’s latest ‘new’ move is a lift into the Cutter. He often lifts guys into the AA but this showed his love of variety, every once in a while. The crowd pop hard for AJ doing the Ushikoroshi, allowing Mauro to name drop Hirooki Goto, because they think he’s stealing the AA. Cena’s second gambit into spot-fest is the Code Red. Indie spot monkey Cena makes me laugh. It shows he’s willing to adapt, adjust and improve. Which is why he’s still the man around here. The meeting for this strikes me as: let’s do every move we know! They go into some interesting chain wrestling with AJ finding counters out of the Struggle Snuggle and the AA. Cena’s counters are solid too but they’re very deliberate whereas Styles’ are cleaner. It’s an amazing effort from both guys and Styles looks the better talent throughout, which is the point of doing the feud. It gets to the point where this is such a war of attrition and there are so many big spots that they can legitimately do the fatigue selling that I’m generally sick of seeing in big WWE matches. Cena looks to have it won with the Super AA but AJ kicks out and the crowd erupt into spontaneous “Yes” chants. Cena does majestic selling as Styles pulls himself up on the ropes after that spot. Cena goes after another AA but Styles slips out, gets the Styles Clash and finishes with the Phenomenal Forearm. This was an incredible match. One of the best ‘WWE style’ main event matches you’ll see all year and Styles won clean as a whistle.
Final Rating: ****3/4
Post Match: Cena does incredible character work by taking off his wrist band, which reads “Never Give Up” and he leaves it in the ring. It’s great symbolism and I suspect Cena is taking a little time off because at the moment he’s stupid busy.
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