WWE NO MERCY: AJ Styles def. Dean Ambrose and John Cena (WWE World Championship)

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WWE No Mercy’s main event of John Cena vs. AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose is a colossal clash of SmackDown’s three biggest stars, with a case to be made for any of the three competitors leaving the pay-per-view as WWE World Champion.

Styles has quickly developed into the blue brand’s top heel and arguably its top overall performer while Ambrose is the newly minted main eventer trying to take the spot that Cena has occupied for more than a decade. Thus, the outcome of the match will have a monumental effect on the landscape of SmackDown, giving fans a very good indication of what we can expect to see on Tuesday nights moving forward.

Especially with Cena expected to miss “several months” to film Season Two of American Grit, the outcome of this No Mercy main event will likely either establish Ambrose or Styles as the guy in the absence of Cena. So, who should win this match, and how should the finish go down?

Let’s take a look at the four best possible finishes to the Triple Threat match for the WWE World title at No Mercy.

4. Ambrose Beats Cena To Regain The Title

One of the most interesting dynamics of this match is the beef between Ambrose and Cena, with both superstars acting quite heel-like during their rivalry so far, which has added a nice underlying layer to this story.

Ambrose, of course, beat Cena on SmackDown in a huge shocker a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been obvious that Cena’s loss has brought some realism into this feud, as Cena attempts to prove that he can still hang with newcomers to the main event picture like Ambrose and Styles. So, just imagine if Cena were to lose yet again to Ambrose at No Mercy.

This would set up one incredibly entertaining storyline where, after multiple clean losses to Ambrose and Styles, even more questions begin to arise about whether or not Cena still has “it” and if he’ll ever be able to tie Ric Flair’s record with his 16th world title win.

3. Styles Makes Ambrose Or Cena Tap Out

It was somewhat disappointing to see Styles win the WWE World Championship in cheap fashion at Backlash, but perhaps that can be remedied at No Mercy.

Cena and Ambrose are two superstars who most fans could never imagine actually tapping out to a lose a match. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to remember a time when Ambrose or Cena lost a match via submission, with Cena in particular being someone WWE protects carefully in that regard.

But if the goal of this Triple Threat match is to build up Styles as a credible champion, which is what it should be, then having him make either Cena or Ambrose tap out would do wonders for him, instantly establishing him as a champion who will be incredibly difficult to dethrone.

And with Kevin Owens playing the role of a more cowardly champion on Raw, SmackDown should rely on Styles as a stronger titleholder.

2. Cena Steals The Pin From Ambrose To Win

Cena is going to win his 16th world title at one point, and his current narrative with Ambrose and Styles provides WWE with a good opportunity to have him do so.

While hardcore fans aren’t exactly clamoring for a title win for Cena, his lengthy rivalry with Styles has been nothing short of phenomenal while his newly developing tension with Ambrose is headed that way, too. Both Ambrose and Cena have been much more aggressive than usual in terms of both their in-ring styles and the verbal viciousness of their promos, especially when targeted at each other.

That’s why it would make for such an intriguing turn of events for Ambrose to come oh so close to beating Styles for the title, only for Cena to jump in and steal the pin at the last second. Since this feud is already loaded with shades of gray, this would only blur the line between fiction and reality and the heel/face dynamic even more than they already have been.

Perhaps most importantly, this would create a cloud of questions around the legitimacy of Cena’s World title win and his ability (or lack thereof) to defeat either Styles or Ambrose on his own.

1. Styles Pins Cena To Retain

The best case scenario for this match is for Styles to retain by pinning Cena, who doesn’t need to win big matches like this anymore and should have a bigger buildup to his record-tying title win.

Whether it’s Ambrose or Styles himself who does the work to earn the pin, the most logical booking move here is to keep the title on Styles without hurting Ambrose in the process. With Cena firmly established as a part-time talent and the expectation being that he’ll be gone after this match to film the second season of American Grit, he should again put over Styles before embarking on his hiatus.

It can be a Styles Clash, a Phenomenal Forearm or a Dirty Deeds that puts Cena down for the 1-2-3. It really doesn’t matter.

What matters most is simply that Styles retains the WWE title because it’s way too soon for him to lose it, especially to a guy he’s recently defeated.