AJ Styles being used correctly so far?

[RVD_86]

I personally love the fact that AJ Styles is in WWE now. LONG overdue! He is a top class talent.

I like the fact he was given a strong performance in the Royal Rumble match this year, but as much as I like Chris Jericho, I'm not so sure he is the right man to push Styles. Jericho is a legend but he is basically an old man now that is a shadow of his old self. He isn't capable of delivering the matches he did back in the day when he feuded with the likes of Chris Benoit.

I think the WWE has some fantastic in ring performers of a younger generation that are high up the main roster that they could feud with Styles. Wrestlers like Kevin Owens, Dolph Zigggler, Dean Ambrose and Alberto Del Rio for starters. Would make more sense to have him lining up a title path as opposed to taking on has beens.

Maybe I'll be proved wrong, what you all think?

 

[edge4ever]

Jericho is great at pushing over talents like AJ. When you first walk into the WWE, you need a name to push you. Well, Jericho is still a good name and he can put on a good show, so let him battle AJ a little bit and see what happens.

 

[Prince Bálor]

He's been used well so far. He lost to Y2J on this week's SmackDown, but 50/50 booking is very common in WWE nowadays. :quimby:

After he defeats (hopefully a heel) Y2J at Fastlane, he'll hopefully go after the US/IC title.

 

[Green Jesus]

Yeah. I didn't really like AJ on TNA(was always more of a Bobby Roode guy myself), but his character seems to fit well on the wwe, and him and Chris seem to have nice chemistry. I wouldn't mind at all if they extended this feud to wrestlemania. I also liked how Jericho made the "good vs great" distinction when it comes to beating him twice, which sort of puts AJ a notch above the likes of Fandango, who Jericho Jobbed to in the past.

Overall I think he's been booked smartly, appeasing the smarks without really shoving him down casual fans' throats.

 

[Dolph'sZiggler]

This is why I hate WWE in 2016. Guys just wrestle, there is no story. AJ styles shows up and starts feuding with jericho why exactly? Because its wrestling and WWE thinks people care about the in ring product more than giving us a reason to care about said in ring product.

 

[Leo C]

This is why I hate WWE in 2016. Guys just wrestle, there is no story. AJ styles shows up and starts feuding with jericho why exactly? Because its wrestling and WWE thinks people care about the in ring product more than giving us a reason to care about said in ring product.

I haven't been following very closely, but iirc on the Raw after the Rumble Jericho kinda treated AJ like a rookie on a backstage promo, then he went there and lost. So Jericho is angry that he got shown up by a newcomer on his debut and wants a rematch. I agree WWE's storytelling these days is usually non existent but I think this one has been fine.

 

[The GOAT]

He's been booked well so far. He lasted 28 minutes in the Royal Rumble and now he's testing his skills against a very accomplished veteran like Jericho. If Owens had won the United States Championship from Cena last year like he should have, then Styles would have been the ideal man to win the title off of him at Mania, but no...

 

[Snowman1]

I haven't been following very closely, but iirc on the Raw after the Rumble Jericho kinda treated AJ like a rookie on a backstage promo, then he went there and lost. So Jericho is angry that he got shown up by a newcomer on his debut and wants a rematch. I agree WWE's storytelling these days is usually non existent but I think this one has been fine.

That's definitely something. It's weird that it feels like you had to really think this through, but it's far from a bad angle!

Plus it's totally within the Miz's character to want to have the "hottest free agent pickup ever!!!" on his talk show, then be jealous and scared and worried about having a huge star like AJ Styles when he's... well, Miz. Both angles equate to "He's a star and can kick your ass", so he's being used pretty well I'd say.

 

[RVD_86]

This is why I hate WWE in 2016. Guys just wrestle, there is no story. AJ styles shows up and starts feuding with jericho why exactly? Because its wrestling and WWE thinks people care about the in ring product more than giving us a reason to care about said in ring product.

I take back the doubt I placed on Jericho for delivering a good match. Just watched SmackDown there and saw the Jericho and Styles main event which was thoroughly entertaining. A proper match which we don't see enough of and seems to be a rare thing these days.

If this was the standard of their match on SmackDown then I can't wait to see what they deliver at FastLane!!!

The only interesting rivalry going on at the minute I think, but I agree with what Dolph's Ziggler said that it lacks storylines. That is a huge problem today. The creative teams absolutely suck and do a really poor job.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Everybody should check out AJ Styles vs Y2J from this week's SmackDown. It was miles better than their RAW bout.

Now... Here's the deal with Y2J/AJ Styles story:

- With AJ Styles, it's about showing that he IS the man, that he does indeed meet all this hype about being the hottest free agent and 'The Phenomenal One', and beating someone like Y2J (a former 6x World Champion and a record 9x IC champion) proves that.

- While on the other hand... With Y2J, it's about showing that he's STILL the man, that he's still a threat after all these years and beating the younger wrestler in Styles proves that.

A rubber match awaits at Fastlane, that's for sure. AJ Styles wins and hopefully moves on to a (US/IC) title feud.

 

[Rogue]

In theory, putting AJ with two of the best talkers is soundproof. The segments haven't been bad at all, and they're doing what they're supposed to. But a lot of it is being retracted alone on the commentary team. The whole Redneck Rookie thing they're running with is going past that, and it's going to hinder the work. Half of the time you're trying to make him seem like this big star, the other half you're knocking him down by seeming like he shouldn't be there and that he's not worthy of the praise he does recieve. It confuses the people who hasn't really gotten adapted to him yet. He's been getting good reactions, but you ought to try to get him over with everybody. And it doesn't help he's barely wrestled on Raw either.

 

[Snowman1]

The big worry I have at this point is him getting what I'll call "Sin Cara syndrome". With Cara they showed him flying around and doing all this cool stuff in these vignettes before he debuted, then he showed up and just had the same matches everyone else had (with more botches) and he quickly stopped being over.

AJ Styles is easily one of the best wrestlers in the world, so it's imperative that he either breaks the mold and does stuff that other people just don't do, or totally grabs that Cesaro/Open Challenge Cena/early Owens spot of "You can guarantee that whoever AJ Styles is in the ring with this week is going to be a back and forth 20+ minute clinic of awesomeness", and that's a spot they desperately need to fill right now with so many injuries. Shoot, you can go back to the Shield six-man days, one of Raw's favorite ways to fill time is to rely on one act to eat up 30 minutes of show with an entertaining back-and-forth battle... Hell, it'll take a lot of the burden off New Day who seems to be in that slot right now.