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#2 AJ Styles' reign has gotten long in the tooth
While the WWE Universe will be forever grateful to AJ Styles for liberating the WWE Championship from Jinder Mahal, that was last November. His reign got off to a great start with a program with Brock Lesnar, but between then and the current feud with Samoa Joe, it hasn't delivered in the way that his first reign did.
Styles' program with Shinsuke Nakamura proved disappointing, even accounting for the bad booking that went into it. Once that feud was over, a filler program with Rusev ensued.
AJ Styles has also been puzzlingly placed on cards, both on TV and pay per view. The placement has often made him and his title feel like an afterthought. It's time to shake things up.
Looking beyond Samoa Joe, AJ Styles could still indeed have intriguing feuds with The Miz and Randy Orton, but as good as the latter has been, few want to see him get another world title reign. The Miz has a lot to add, but it doesn't feel like his time just yet.
No male superstar is hotter on SmackDown than Samoa Joe right now, and even if his reign winds up being short, he deserves the WWE Championship.
