AJ Styles had quite a night on WWE SmackDown last week, as the Phenomenal One gave an Oscar-worthy performance throughout the show, pretending that he was retiring and walking away from WWE. That turned out to be a ruse, however, and it worked perfectly, as he viciously attacked Cody Rhodes. Rhodes was out for blood from the very start of tonight’s SmackDown as a result, and that would lead to a confrontation on the loading dock and in the ring, where Styles said he wanted a WWE Championship match at Clash at the Castle. Rhodes gave him what he wanted, but added one stipulation, making it an I Quit match.
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Early in the show, Rhodes was waiting for Styles on the loading dock and was confronted by Nick Aldis, who said that no one wanted this kind of fight backstage. Rhodes said this was between him and Styles though, and Aldis left him alone. When Styles eventually did show up, he rolled in with a ton of security, and Rhodes had enough of the stall tactics.
Rhodes headed to the ring and called out Styles directly, and he was seething. “AJ Styles, get your ass to this ring right now! We don’t need security AJ, let’s do this here and now. C’mon AJ, C’mon,” Rhodes said. Styles’ music played and he emerged from backstage with The O.C. right along with him. Security got in the way and Aldis came out once again, trying to keep the peace and keep some space between the two sides.
“You think I care what you want? Do you think I care what you want? What you want is irrelevant to me,” Styles said. “Look at ya. You want a fight so bad, you want to fight me so bad, oh, I’ll tell you what Cody, give me what I want.” AJ sucks chants hit and he wasn’t amused.ย “I want the WWE Championship at Clash at the Castle, that’s what I want,” Styles said.
“You want to fight at Clash at the Castle? That’s what you want? 100% you got it,” Rhodes said. “But AJ, AJ look at me! This isn’t just any regular match. I’m not gonna beat you, I’m gonna make you say what you should have said last week. That will be I QUIT!!” Aldis then thought about it for a minute and quickly gave a thumbs up, making the match official for the premium live event.
Despite getting the match, Rhodes headed out of the ring and tried to get to Styles. When security got in his way, Rhodes attacked them and threw one guard into the steel steps. A host of other security personnel came out and held him down, though he was able to get away and go after Styles. Rhodes was pushed back, but then Styles dove in and knocked Rhodes and security to the ground, and the brawl continued as the segment came to a close.
Now the two superstars will face each other one-on-one in an I Quit match. If Styles loses, this could be his final shot at the WWE Championship for some time. If Rhodes loses, it will mean a far shorter term as Champion than he will have planned on, so the stakes are rather high for both stars.
What have you thought of SmackDown so far? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!
