WWE Smackdown Live results and observations (3/14/17): AJ Styles steps over the line

This week's episode of Smackdown Live didn't feature a variety of good matches or angles.

The show was primarily focused on two people: AJ Styles and Shane McMahon. The direction WWE chose to take the show probably hurt the other stories on the brand, as they were shoved to the background this week.

However, what Smackdown Live focused n was a success on pretty much every level.

Before I go into detail, here are the full match results from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh:

- Becky Lynch def. Natalya

- Mickie James def. Alexa Bliss

- Mojo Rawley def. Dolph Ziggler by count out

- The Usos def. American Alpha

AJ Styles goes too far

Styles expressed his frustration with the Smackdown Live front office — specifically Shane McMahon — last week, but did not go as far as to put his hands on Smackdown Live's commissioner and do bodily harm.

Styles crossed that line this week when he attacked McMahon in the parking lot during the show and eventually drove his head through a car window, which caused McMahon to bleed from his head.

Styles' actions were frowned upon from virtually everyone on the Smackdown Live roster, including The Usos, who are currently heels. Smackdown Live general manager, Daniel Bryan, took the most exception with what Styles did by immediately firing him from Smackdown Live.

Styles didn't seem to care about any of this. He was not apologetic and showed little emotion about losing his job on Smackdown Live.

It turned out that Styles was only out of work for about an hour, as a beaten and battered McMahon stumbled out into the arena against the wishes of Jamie Noble and Fit Finlay, who both thought McMahon should go to the hospital, and announced that he will be Styles' opponent at WrestleMania before the telecast abruptly cut off.

I guess Smackdown Live does not have the same leeway to run over its allotted time like Raw does every week.

Despite that little flub, McMahon will face Styles in a match WrestleMania and it is happening whether fans like it or not.

Most of the fans I interact with seem to be against Styles facing McMahon at WrestleMania, as they see it as a waste of Styles' talent.

I see their point, but Styles is far from being wasted by being in this match. Being in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal would be a waste of Styles. Even worse, he could be left off the card all together.

Instead, he is being put into a featured role in a match against the boss' son. That is not a waste of Styles.

After what we all saw Tuesday night, it is clear that Styles is not being wasted because everything played out pretty darn well during the show.

Styles came off like a renegade that didn't care about authority, which is something WWE has very few of these days.

I also liked the serious tone Smackdown Live took when it came to everything involving Styles and McMahon. I think it helped get over Styles as being a menace of sorts to Smackdown Live and I think it helped the story overall.

I loved how Smackdown Live cut into the tag team match with live shots of slowly making his way to the arena. That is something WWE doesn't do often and I liked the unique nature of it.

I didn't like it for the tag team match, but I'll get more into that later.

I also liked Bryan saying on Talking Smack that he will have to talk to McMahon about challenging Styles because he didn't believe that McMahon was in his right mind when he made the challenge.

That makes sense given that McMahon's head was driven through a car window. In theory, McMahon was probably a little loopy after that.

My only negative toward all of this was the camera that was inside the car McMahon's head went through. That was silly and could have ruined the disbelief of the angle.

At the end of the day, I don't see how anyone can complain about the spot Styles being put in after watching Smackdown Live this week. WWE made Styles the running story throughout the show and the story it is telling with him and McMahon has only gotten me more excited for the match.

The feud feels real, it feels personal and I believe Styles and McMahon will deliver satisfying match at WrestleMania.

Bray Wyatt has gone dark

It took me a while, but I think I understood what Wyatt was talking about during his promo Tuesday night.

Wyatt interrupted Randy Orton by appearing on the titantron in a dark room and said that he has essentially absorbed the evil that was Sister Abigail.

He said that he was going to baptize himself in her power by rubbing the dirt from her grave all over him and that he was going to reborn darker than before.

Once I figured out what Wyatt was talking about, I kind of dug it. Sure, it is a little over the top, especially with everything else that is playing out on Smackdown Live at the moment, but over the top fits Wyatt's character and this new direction he may go in sort of reminds me of Pentagon Dark from Lucha Underground.

If nothing else, this promo made got me interested in seeing what direction Wyatt's character will go in.

Mixed tag team match official for WrestleMania

After exchanging personal jabs over the microphone for weeks, the two power couples in WWE will go at it at WrestleMania, as John Cena and Nikki Bella will face The Miz and his wife Maryse.

The match was made official after another edition of Miz TV, which featured Maryse spilling the proverbial tea on how much Bella has stabbed her in the back in the past.

Cena and Bella interrupted the bash fest by running to the ring, which prompted The Miz and Maryse to bail.

Bella grabbed the microphone and challenged Maryse to a match, but The Miz immediately turned her down.

That brought out Bryan, who said that he had grown tired of The Miz doing things that made him want to punch the former Intercontinental champion in the face.

Instead of punching The Miz in the face himself, Bryan said that he would enlist the services of Cena and Bella to do it for him.

This feud has been wildly entertaining ever since Maryse attacked Bella with a lead pipe a couple of weeks ago and I am very much looking forward to what is going to be said next. The match is almost secondary to the promos both sides have been unleashing on each other.

Baron Corbin challenges Dean Ambrose to title match at WrestleMania

McMahon wasn't the only one doing the challenging Tuesday night, as Corbin challenged Ambrose to an Intercontinental title match at WrestleMania.

Chances are that Ambrose, who did not appear on the show after having his chest seemingly crushed by a forklift last week, will accept the challenge, meaning we're going to have a one-on-one match for the Intercontinental championship for the first time since WrestleMania 29.

But even that match (The Miz versus Wade Barrett) was on the pre-show and there is no guarantee that this one will be on the main card.

The last one-on-one Intercontinental title match to be on the main card of WrestleMania was when the Big Show defeated Cody Rhodes for the title at WrestleMania 28.

Tag team division has been almost invisible

As I mentioned earlier, WWE cut into the tag team match between American Alpha and The Usos with live shots of McMahon walking through the hallways of the PPG Paints Arena.

While I liked that little touch for the McMahon-Styles story, it only reaffirmed that Smackdown Live's tag team division has been firmly pushed to the background and is not a priority at the moment.

I understand that Smackdown Live is only two hours, which means time is somewhat limited, but that should not be an excuse when it comes to ignoring an entire division of talent.

It isn't like Smackdown Live doesn't have quality tag teams. It showcased two of them this week, including the current tag champions, American Alpha.

But it just seems like Smackdown Live's priorities are on its top four matches and nothing else.

It is even worse when you consider how good of a feud American Alpha could be having with The Usos. Despite the feud going all the way back to last fall, it's never felt like it's gotten off the ground.

It'll start, but disappear for some unknown reason and started back up again. That could be the best tag team feud in all of WWE. Instead, it is merely an afterthought.