wrestling / Columns

Styles vs. Harper: The Ends Justify The Means

February 23, 2017 | Posted by Steve Cook
Image Credit: WWE

The road to WrestleMania is best when it isn’t predictable. When it keeps us guessing. Randy Orton declaring that he would not wrestle Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship has thrown a monkeywrench into SmackDown Live’s plans for a championship main event at WrestleMania. The brass figured they would settle this by having a ten-man battle royal to determine a new #1 contender. I’m not a huge fan of battle royals defending championships, going back to when Larry Zbyszko lucked his way into the AWA championship by winning a battle royal over the Z-Man. Hardly a convincing way to start a title reign. But as much as I dislike battle royals determining #1 contenderships or titles, it made sense in this instance because Randy Orton had earned his title opportunity by winning a 30-man Royal Rumble match. SmackDown doesn’t have thirty viable contenders on its own, but they do have enough to make a decent battle royal with all killer & no filler.

OK, mostly killer & little filler? Work with me here, people.

The top ten WWE Championship contenders (other than Randy Orton, of course) were there, and things went as we would expect. Mojo Rawley went out first, followed by Kalisto, then Dolph Ziggler & Apollo Crews. Miz went out next, at about the right time for him. Baron Corbin was next, and he did bad things to Dean Ambrose on the floor because the IC Champ should last longer in the match anyway. John Cena got eliminated to build that match with him & Nikki against Miz & Maryse that I argued against last week. Still not a big fan of it, but it is what it is. Ambrose came back in & got eliminated, so we were down to AJ Styles & Luke Harper.

Full disclosure here. I’ve been hoping for an AJ Styles vs. Luke Harper match ever since AJ arrived in WWE. Harper’s a guy that came up through CHIKARA and other Northeast indies featuring smaller wrestlers, during which time he became a fantastic base for guys to fly around. AJ is one of the best fliers in wrestling history, so I can only assume that he & Luke would do fantastic things in the ring. Somehow, they’ve managed to avoid each other until this point.

The finish of the battle royal…well, let’s be honest. It was pretty damn obvious Styles hit the floor first. You really have to stretch your belief in kayfabe and all things holy to accept the idea that they hit the floor at the same time. Maybe all the referees at ringside were in a terrible position. They’re all incompetent. Hey, I’ve watched enough college basketball to accept that as a possibility.

I’m willing to suspend my disbelief here. Why? Because I’ve wanted to see AJ Styles face Luke Harper in a singles match for a long time. And I’m perfectly ok with either one of them facing Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania, or continuing down the road to face Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania, because I still think Randy Orton’s getting involved in it somehow. I’m going to die on that hill.

One of the key parts of being a proper wrestling fan is being willing to suspend your disbelief. There’s always going to be stuff that insults your intelligence. It’s pro wrestling. Once you reach my age, if there isn’t something that insults your intelligence on a wrestling show, you’re just not very intelligent. You have to decide what bothers you and what doesn’t. As stupid and mind-bending as something might be, if it results in an AJ Styles vs. Luke Harper singles match, it isn’t going to bother me.

Both guys deserve the spot. For Luke, it’s part of an overreaching story. He lost his family. He bought into what Bray Wyatt was selling a few years ago in NXT, and followed him to the main roster. He had always been Bray’s general, his second-in-command more so than Erick Rowan or Braun Stroman could claim to be. He was the one guy that always had Bray’s back no matter what. But once Bray gained the services of Randy Orton, one of the most decorated grapplers in WWE history, Luke became expendable. There’s no worse feeling than when your best friend decides he doesn’t need you anymore. That’s what Luke Harper is feeling right now, and he’ll do anything to make that feeling go away. Taking the whole world out of Bray Wyatt’s hands would be a good start. It’s tough for most of us to relate to a guy like Luke Harper that looks like a maniac, is bigger than anybody we know and more agile than anybody we know, but we can relate to him when he’s been wronged by his best friend.

As for AJ Styles…well, he’s the best wrestler in the world. He has been for quite some time in my book. You could make an argument for him being the best wrestler in his home promotion since at least 2002. I didn’t see enough NWA Wildside in 2000-01 to determine whether he was the best guy there or not. But throughout his entire time in TNA he was in the conversation for Wrestler of the Year every single year. Then once he left TNA he got even better, getting that WOTY hype again every year he was with New Japan & drawing fans whereever he appeared in North America. His first year in WWE speaks for itself, but he wants his second year to be even better. To make that a possibility, he needs the most prestigious title in the company back.

He still hasn’t gotten that one on one rematch for the title yet. That might come up again at some point.

Daniel Bryan announced on Talking Smack that Styles & Harper will face off next week with the winner challenging Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania. Sounds good to me. The ends justify the means, even if they’ll have to find a really creative camera angle to make it look like AJ Styles didn’t obviously touch the floor first. Or, maybe we’ll find out that Bray Wyatt has brainwashed the referees. I’m in full support of having Bray Wyatt brainwash people to make the implausible plausible. Hey, whatever it takes.

The WWE Championship picture hasn’t been this interesting in a long time. We think we know where it’s going, but how do we know Luke Harper won’t end up with the Championship on April 2? Or maybe it’ll be AJ Styles reclaiming the title in the same city he’s had countless classic matches in. Whatever happens, I’m perfectly ok with.

OK, Randy Orton winning the title would be kind of lame. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For more of Steve Cook’s thoughts on pro wrestling, along with his thoughts on the Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Nashville Predators, Tottenham Hotspur & University of Louisville sports teams, follow him on Twitter!