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The Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla returned to WrestleMania for the 13th time. His opponent, the Phenomenal One appeared on the Grandest Stage of Them All for the first time.
Texas was definitely behind AJ Styles, and not just because his county-fied hip hop theme song is the bees' knees. The reported record crowd of 100,000 added a different element to a match we've seen a few times since AJ debuted and Chris Jericho returned at Royal Rumble.
A fast paced open slowed down considerably when the men swapped positions on the apron and Styles ended up on the floor. Y2J taunted the man he feels stole some of his thunder (and ruined the new shirt he had commissioned for their tag title run that never came).
When AJ battled out of a rest hold, the theme of the contest was those matches they'd had previously on Raw, SmackDown and at Fastlane. Each man had a counter for everything the other threw at them. Eventually, they headed up top after Jericho missed a bulldog, and they ended up wiped out after what was supposed to be a facebuster by Y2J.
Up first, a Pele Kick was caught by the Canadian and turned into the Walls. Styles was unable to reach the ropes, but rolled through and turned it into his own submission, the Calf Crusher.
Battling out, Jericho walked right into a flurry of strikes. He managed to dodge a Phenomenal Forearm and connect with a Codebreaker, but he was too rocked to cover immediately, and AJ kicked out at 2.
Shocked, the self-proclaimed Best There Is went for a Styles Clash of his own, but couldn't lock it in, and corkscrewed him into a slam. That wasn't enough to end it either. Finally, AJ hit the move that ended so many of his matches in TNA and New Japan, but once agin, Jericho kicked out.
The former tag partners exchanged blows in the middle of the ring, and Jericho went down. A forearm attempt by AJ ran into Chris' boot. A Lionsault by Y2J met Styles' knees. Each veteran had an answer for everything else in the other man's arsenal, and too much pride to be pinned.
An angry Styles went for another Phenomenal Forearm, and Jericho countered with a Codebreaker.
Counter to what many fans expected, the WWE veteran defeated the WWE newcomer. Maybe we should have remembered who books WrestleMania.