AJ Styles and Shinsuke Fight to Double Count-Out at Greatest Royal Rumble

The feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura just got extended—their WWE Championship Match at the Greatest Royal Rumble finished in a double count-out.

Things went off the rails after Shinsuke scored yet another low-blow on Styles. The referee missed the nefarious act, but Styles may never forget it. The WWE Champion launched a highly physical assault that spilled out of the ring and allowed the referee to out ou both competitors.

Expectations for their WrestleMania 34 match could not have been higher as fans hoped to see one of the greatest wrestling matches of all time. However, that’s not what happened ad WWE elected to have Shinske turn heel to prolong the story.

The Greatest Royal Rumble was Act II of said story and we’ll likely get a third installment at the May 6 Backlash pay-per-view.

WWE has done an admirable job of story crafting in this feud. All of us expected to watch a series of 5-star matches but instead, WWE has made a concerted effort to play a longer game.While Styles and Nakamura are capable of tearing down the house, they’ll need a compelling story to make their match matter that much more. Now that Shinsuke has turned heel and AJ vicious, that table for their Backlash battle is st, however, we likely are booked for several more chapter after May 6.

If WWE wanted to, they could have Styles and Nakamura chase each other for all of 2018, flipping the WWE championship back and forth. Them occupying SmackDown’s main event for months depends on WWE’s plans for the rest of the Bue Brand. Do they want Daniel Bryan back as WWE champion? Samoa Joe? The Miz? Even Big Cass?

We’ll have to wait and see, but 2018 promises to be a great year not just for SmackDown but all of WWE.