Before John Cena and Nikki Bella feuded their way against the Miz and Maryse, Wrestlemania season looked better for Shinsuke Nakamura and former WWE champion AJ Styles. Unfortunately, backstage politics and a little bit of mainstream delight ruined the original plans for these two outstanding in-ring performers.
According to Cageside, WWE creative previously had big plans for Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles before the Cena-Bella engagement angle was pushed. Nakamura was originally booked to win the Intercontinental title from the Miz at Wrestlemania, but that plan had to be scrapped out in favor of the Cenation leader.
"The reported plan was that The Miz & SD Live GM Daniel Bryan's issue with one another was supposed to escalate all the way to WrestleMania 33. Ultimately, The Miz would be defending his I.C. Title against an opponent [Nakamura] of Bryan's choosing in which Bryan would decide at WrestleMania," as reported by Sportskeeda.
Nakamura, former IWGP and NXT Champion, easily establishes himself as one of the most popular stars in NXT largely because of his reputation as 'The King of Strong Style' and excellent title matches with Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode. The Japanese wrestler made his debut at SmackDown a couple of night after Wrestlemania, changing the landscape of singles competition in the Blue Brand.
Nakamura has already begun his feud with Dolph Ziggler, which will culminate at SmackDown's first exclusive PPV event - Backlash 2017. After that, he's expected to get his main event push at some point this summer. Wrestling fans are already salivating on potential showdown with Randy Orton, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin and rival AJ Styles, who is rumored to be Shinsuke's opponent at Wrestlemania 34.
Speaking of AJ Styles, the Phenomenal One was another superstar whose Wrestlemania booking completely altered by the Cena-Bella angle. Styles was originally penciled to drop his title to the Undertaker at Royal Rumble, and then regain the WWE Championship belt few weeks later at the
Elimination Chamber. At Wrestlemania 33, Styles was promised to have a title match with Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton, but instead he got a pre-show match with SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon.
