A rematch of one of the best matches from 2016 appears to be in the plans for WrestleMania 34.
The build to WrestleMania officially began at tonight’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The men’s Rumble came down to a final four of Shinsuke Nakamura, Roman Reigns, John Cena, and Finn Balor. And after eliminating Reigns to win the match, Nakamura did an interview where he set his sights on a WrestleMania meeting with AJ Styles.
The storyline of the Rumble winners being able to pick which champion they’ll challenge at WrestleMania was set up earlier in the night.
The only time that Styles and Nakamura have faced off in a singles match was at NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 10. It finished fourth in our Match of the Year voting. Styles wrote on Twitter following Nakamura’s win: “A match many thought they’d never seen on this continent…in this ring…for this title will be the MAIN EVENT of @WrestleMania. #StylesVsNakamura #YeahOh … this is going to be #Phenomenal.”
To open the main card of the Rumble PPV, Styles retained the WWE Championship against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a handicap match. He pinned Owens, who wasn’t the legal man. Owens and Zayn complained to Shane McMahon after the match, but McMahon wasn’t sympathetic towards them.
There may be at least one more WWE Championship defense before WrestleMania, with SmackDown’s Fastlane show taking place in Columbus, Ohio on March 11th. The Nationwide Arena has been advertising Styles vs. Nakamura vs. Owens vs. Zayn vs. Randy Orton in a fatal five-way title match as the PPV’s main event, but that was before Nakamura won the Rumble.