Shane's looking more athletic than I expected

[Everlong]

Shane opened up with some pretty decent chain wrestling skills, and has been selling his strikes pretty well. Gotta say, this match is delivering more than I would have expected, though obviously there's still a way to go. I'm sure there'll be a gratuitous Shane spot that he misses to give AJ the win.

[AkydefGoldberg]

Credit to AJ for getting the best out of Shane and latter for an improved performance. Still, Styles deserved more than an opener for WM.

[prophet]

How was the match? Wikipedia tells me they went 20 minutes?

[The Legend]

That match exceeded my expectations far more than I thought capable.

[Messiah]

How was the match? Wikipedia tells me they went 20 minutes?

It was really fucking good. AJ is the best.

[Everlong]

How was the match? Wikipedia tells me they went 20 minutes?

Worth a watch, maybe the best of the night honestly. And it wasn't like Shane got carried -- he did very well in his own right.

[Hanley!]

And it wasn't like Shane got carried -- he did very well in his own right.

It was a bit like he got carried.

Other than his usual handful of big spots - in this case the coast to coast, the table bump, and the shooting star press - most of what he did wasn't great and things were always at their best when Styles was in control. When Styles wasn't controlling the pace of the match, Shane would often go too fast and almost blow himself up. His punches looked dodgy as usual, but he still managed to give Styles a shiner with one of them. You could tell that this would have been a lot worse if Shane was in there with anyone else.

It still ended up being a good match. Some nice spots, a couple of creative counters and Styles did a good job of smack-talking Shane early. It was structured well generally. And it probably turned out about as well as it possibly could have. I'd maybe give it 3 and a half stars if I was feeling generous. It's still almost certainly the worst pay per view singles match Styles has had in over a decade.

This and Aries/Neville were the only matches I watched before bed last night. I preferred the cruiserweight match. Styles/Shane was good, but I think a few people online are getting carried away about just how good it is. Still though, I'm sure the office are very happy with Styles for guiding Shane through this match.

[AkydefGoldberg]

Yeah, it was better than expected and Shane threw in a few wrestling moves that you wouldn't see him perform but let's not get too carried away. Styles was the star and rightly so. The allure of AJ working with a McMahon was killed off with it being the opener for the night but hopefully AJ is onto better things now than Shane O Mac.

[KaiserGlider]

It's still almost certainly the worst pay per view singles match Styles has had in over a decade.

lol, what? We're counting TNA right?

The match definitely exceeded my expectations. I was very concerned when I found out they were going to keep it as a normal match and not a hardcore match, but the first half of the match before the ref bump was pretty good in terms of how it was paced and how well Shane hung in there. He deserves just as much credit as AJ for that performance. I was more impressed by Shane than AJ during that match.

[Hanley!]

It's still almost certainly the worst pay per view singles match Styles has had in over a decade.

lol, what? We're counting TNA right?

The match definitely exceeded my expectations. I was very concerned when I found out they were going to keep it as a normal match and not a hardcore match, but the first half of the match before the ref bump was pretty good in terms of how it was paced and how well Shane hung in there. He deserves just as much credit as AJ for that performance. I was more impressed by Shane than AJ during that match.

Yeah, I'm counting TNA. There might be a couple of exceptions if I went back and checked. But as bad as TNA were in terms of booking, he generally had a higher caliber of opponent there than Shane McMahon. Pacman Jones notwithstanding.

I just came into this match with a different mindset than many people. I never wanted to compare it to other Shane McMahon matches, because he's the guy who shouldn't have been on the show in the first place. For this match to justify its place on the card to me, it had to compare favourably to other Styles matches instead. And it wasn't up to his usual standard.

What's more, in the context of the entire show I think this match looks like a mistake now. We didn't that 4+ star match on this show. And when the audience started to flag later on, they could have really used a great, balls-to-the-wall AJ Styles match to get them fired up again. The absence of that sort of match later in the show hurt the entire thing, and Styles would have been a great candidate to deliver that match.

Considering how Cena's match and the WWE title match disappointed also, it seems even more obvious in hindsight that this should have been Styles vs Cena for the title.

[KaiserGlider]

Yeah, I'm counting TNA. There might be a couple of exceptions if I went back and checked. But as bad as TNA were in terms of booking, he generally had a higher caliber of opponent there than Shane McMahon. Pacman Jones notwithstanding.

I just came into this match with a different mindset than many people. I never wanted to compare it to other Shane McMahon matches, because he's the guy who shouldn't have been on the show in the first place. For this match to justify its place on the card to me, it had to compare favourably to other Styles matches instead. And it wasn't up to his usual standard.

What's more, in the context of the entire show I think this match looks like a mistake now. We didn't that 4+ star match on this show. And when the audience started to flag later on, they could have really used a great, balls-to-the-wall AJ Styles match to get them fired up again. The absence of that sort of match later in the show hurt the entire thing, and Styles would have been a great candidate to deliver that match.

Considering how Cena's match and the WWE title match disappointed also, it seems even more obvious in hindsight that this should have been Styles vs Cena for the title.

What caliber of an opponent you think Shane McMahon is is irreverent. The fact is that a 3.5 star match with, say, Frankie Kazarian in the midcard of TNA Against All Odds 2009 is not going to mean anywhere near as much in the grand scheme of things, get as much exposure, or get as much positive fan response as a 3.5 star match with Shane McMahon in the opening bout of Wrestlemania. It doesn't make sense to me that you would devalue that match to such an extent just because it didn't follow the exact same format as most AJ matches or because you consider Shane to be a non-wrestler. On no level is this one of the worst PPV matches Styles has had in over a decade. That's like saying Shawn Michaels vs Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania 22 was one of the worst matches of HBK's career because Mr.McMahon isn't the wrestler that Shawn is. And it's not like AJ's TNA career was full of nothing but Styles/Daniels/Joe triple threat 5-star matches. He's had PPV matches with Kevin Nash, Frank Trigg, and a seemingly never-ending series with Christopher Daniels around 2011-2012 that went on way longer than it should have. I specifically remember being really underwhelmed by a match they had at one of the Bound For Glorys.

But I agree that a great Styles match would have been greatly welcome in the second half of the show. I thought the position of Shane/AJ as the opener benefited that match, but not the show as a whole now that you brought up that point. I'm still not sure AJ/Cena is what needed to happen since Cena left right after Wrestlemania. AJ vs Orton could have been good also.

[Hanley!]

I'm not devaluing the match because Shane is a non-wrestler, but because it wasn't all that great. And you say that it got Styles more exposure than his matches at TNA, and that's true. But that's because of the show, not the opponent. If Styles had a 4.5 star match against a great wrestler at Wrestlemania, that would have been better exposure than a 3 to 3.5 star affair against Shane McMahon. And better for the show as a whole.

Michaels vs Vince was a better match than Styles vs Shane too. Partially because they added more smoke and mirrors. There were plenty of weapons and run-ins and all of the stuff you'd expect in a match featuring a non-wrestler. Just as importantly though, Vince was always a much better character than Shane. People cared more about him. That makes a difference.

Wrestlemania isn't a time for a wrestler to give us a performance that's below average for them on pay per view, and I hope we can agree that this was at least below average for Styles on pay per view. It was a problem elsewhere on the show too, but it was particularly noticeable here due to Styles reputation: wrestlers weren't put in the position to really steal the show the way they usually would be.

This isn't a match that many people wanted to see. It received a lot of heat coming up to Wrestlemania. Fans obviously wanted something else from Styles, and no longer seemed interested in seeing Shane wrestle at all. With all of that considered, I just don't think the match itself was as good as it needed to be to justify its existence.

[The Legend]

If you flip AJ/McMahon and Goldberg/Lesnar spots on the card that match would have still done a good job of bringing the fans back into the show and putting things back on track. Place on the card was a bigger issue than opponent on that front. And while it was Styles/Joe/Daniels I do believe you are undervaluing the quality of match that it was.

[Headlesspete]

I can see both points of view on if AJ should have faced someone other than McMahon, and i think we can all agree that had we been given the choice, we would have taken an AJ VS Nak, vs Zaine or vs Joe match. That being said, the actual match we got, in my personal opinion, could't have been any better.

I won't lie, I'm a massive fan of Shane McMahon. I have a huge amount of respect for him, and i think he adds a lot of value to the card for the casual fans who only tune in to watch WrestleMania. And for those fans that did, and may have no idea who AJ Styles is, they got to see a great match and watch Shane put over AJ. How is that a bad thing? For the here and now maybe we feel we missed out on seeing a MOTY from AJ Styles, but were gonna get those in years to come. What we got was an older legend putting over a star who's gonna be needing a rub for the coming year, and that can only be a good thing.

[Everlong]

I'm not devaluing the match because Shane is a non-wrestler, but because it wasn't all that great. And you say that it got Styles more exposure than his matches at TNA, and that's true. But that's because of the show, not the opponent. If Styles had a 4.5 star match against a great wrestler at Wrestlemania, that would have been better exposure than a 3 to 3.5 star affair against Shane McMahon. And better for the show as a whole.

Michaels vs Vince was a better match than Styles vs Shane too. Partially because they added more smoke and mirrors. There were plenty of weapons and run-ins and all of the stuff you'd expect in a match featuring a non-wrestler. Just as importantly though, Vince was always a much better character than Shane. People cared more about him. That makes a difference.

Wrestlemania isn't a time for a wrestler to give us a performance that's below average for them on pay per view, and I hope we can agree that this was at least below average for Styles on pay per view. It was a problem elsewhere on the show too, but it was particularly noticeable here due to Styles reputation: wrestlers weren't put in the position to really steal the show the way they usually would be.

This isn't a match that many people wanted to see. It received a lot of heat coming up to Wrestlemania. Fans obviously wanted something else from Styles, and no longer seemed interested in seeing Shane wrestle at all. With all of that considered, I just don't think the match itself was as good as it needed to be to justify its existence.

I understand your view, but I have to disagree. Maybe it's because it was such a surprise and because it was right out of the gate, but I *did* think the match was good enough to justify its existence. Now, that doesn't mean I don't think Styles couldn't have been better served in a different match/feud, but I also think you're underselling its quality, as well as the popularity of Shane.

[Hanley!]

If you looked anywhere online, or heard the reactions to Shane on Smackdown leading up to Wrestlemania, it was easy to see that fans generally weren't too keen on seeing this match. People warmed up to the idea after the match had taken place and had turned out well. But I don't think it was as good a match as people are making out - expectations were just low and it exceeded them.

I enjoyed the match too, but Shane's offense still looked about as bad as usual and I still thought it hurt Styles to have to sell so much for someone who isn't a wrestler, doesn't look like a wrestler and who few people perceive as a wrestler. Weirdly this is something that I think would actually come off worse to the casual fan. Someone who's not as mired in the silliness of pro-wrestling.

I think everyone wanted more from Styles, but lots of people got distracted when what they got was pretty good. I'm just picky I guess. I still wanted more. Styles got a great match out of Shane because he's an excellent worker. But nobody was clamouring for a Shane match before the fact, acting like it inherently helped the perception of Styles among casual fans is a huge stretch, and this match should still never have happened.

That's really what I'm negative on - the match was about as good as it could have been. It's the decision to go forward with it in the first place that is still ridiculous to me. We don't need a yearly Shane McMahon match.

What we got was an older legend putting over a star who's gonna be needing a rub for the coming year, and that can only be a good thing.

That much at least I can appreciate. Though if the opposite had happened I would have freaked out.

This was a really strong Wrestlemania when it came to putting over newer guys. Styles beat Shane, Owens beat Jericho, Rollins beat Triple H, Reigns beat Undertaker. They never go this strong with the new talent at Wrestlemania, so I appreciated that. The Hardys did win their match, but it was their return and they were absolutely the right choice in the circumstances.

Hope they keep this pattern up over the next couple of years.