WWE WrestleMania: Will Randy Orton and AJ Styles steal the show?
The stage is set for two of the very best of their generations to steal the show
By Abel Morton
Last Updated: 05/04/19 5:39pm
Between the two they have 15 world titles. Accolades galore. The type of honours lists that some superstars can only dream to achieve half of.
Both elite performers' careers are Hall of Fame worthy. Don't be surprised if Randy Orton v AJ Styles at WrestleMania steals the show.
When this titanic match was first announced to take place at this year's WrestleMania, the buzz that you would expect to surround such a mouth-watering clash between two of the all-time greats wasn't quite there.
Kofi Kingston's trials and tribulations in his quest of securing a WWE title match at WrestleMania, the red-hot feud between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair and the deep-rooted personal grudge between Batista and Triple H all seemed to take Orton and Styles' shine leading up to Sunday's extravaganza.
But like all great students of the game, veterans if you will, they have the know-how and special knack of making the fans invested in an inspired moment of artistry.
Orton and Styles traded the kind of verbal tirades at each other last month on SmackDown that leave the audience yearning for more. Orton and Styles were trying to one-up each other. Both were attempting to state their claim as to why they're more decorated than the other.
The reaction of the fans in attendance throughout the segment said it all. From Orton's claims that SmackDown was his house long before Styles arrived in WWE to Styles' reply that Orton wouldn't last a day on the independent circuit, the gasps and uproar as they both landed verbal blows was music to Orton's and Styles' ears as they knew at that point they had the fans at the palm of their hands.
Speaking on the Busted Open radio show, WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry was quick to remind the wrestling world that this match shouldn't be overlooked whilst going on to give the two ultimate respect for their careers.
"This is one of those matches that people look at and go, 'it's not filler.' These are both stars," he very correctly stated. "Randy Orton, in my opinion, he's not on Mount Rushmore yet, but he's slowly entering that top 15 or top 10 of all time.
"He is that damn good and then AJ Styles, from the time he was an indie guy, worked his way up, worked down south, to now coming to the WWE. He did everything at every level that there is to do and he has become an elite champion."
When you break this rivalry down to its bare bones it draws similarity to the classic encounter between Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels 14 years ago at WrestleMania 21. Then it was Angle and Michaels who were bidding to gain the upper hand on their nemesis in the lead-up to their show-stealing masterpiece in Los Angeles.
On April 3, 2005, Angle and Michaels were fighting to see who the better man was - no titles on the line, no stipulation, just a bell-to-bell contest to see who was superior at their craft.
Orton has often spoken on how he feels he is yet to have his 'WrestleMania moment'. His outrageous mid-air RKO on Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 31, successfully retaining the WWE title against Triple H and John Cena at WrestleMania 28 or better yet, main-eventing the pay-per-view a decade ago against Triple H for the WWE title are on his highlights reel. Yet Orton remains in search of his ultimate crescendo.
In AJ Styles there is no better dance partner in the world for Orton to create magic with. Two years ago in an interview on the The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show he said a match between himself and Orton would be "something special".
Styles said: "I think there's that one person that everybody would like to see me work with, and that's Randy Orton. Randy and I have yet to even touch in the ring, I don't think I've hit him with anything, or he's hit me. None of that's ever happened. I think that's gonna be something special when it does."
The stage is set for two of the very best of their generations to steal the show.
