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A week before Survivor Series, WWE decided that it was the time that AJ relinquished his championship. Even after a long title reign of 371 days, the title change came as a surprise as everybody believed that Styles will overtake CM Punk for the longest WWE title reign. But, for some reason, Vince and Co. got cold feet and decided to pull the plug on AJ's title reign.
It is somehow ironic that Styles was a victim of the same reason of title change. Last year, Jinder Mahal was the champion heading into Survivor Series. But, as a Jinder vs Lesnar match was not exactly a crowd draw, WWE put the belt on AJ. This year, although a rematch would have been good, WWE decided they wanted something fresh. So, a week from Survivor Series, Bryan pinned Styles after turning heel, thus ending Styles' reign as champ. Also, as we have a heel champ, things have definitely freshened up.
With his reign finally over, I tried to analyze his title reign. I found that his title reign, especially in the second half, was definitely subpar. He did have the potential, but for some reason, Styles as a face champ didn't have the 'It' he had as a heel champ. Starting from Wrestlemania, his rivalries took far too long, repeated the same formula, and the matches under-performed. Much like Mahal, some blame can be attributed to AJ Styles for not being a crowd-drawing champion. Even WWE realized this as they consistently gave the WWE Championship less preference then even mixed-tag matches.
Today I will analyze four reasons why Styles was a bad champion. I know I will get a lot of hate from the internet fans, but if they look back and retrospect his title reign, they will know that it was not all good.
Let's begin.
#1. Underwhelming matches
The matches Styles put up at the beginning of his title reign were definitely not underwhelming. His match against Lesnar at Survivor Series is regarded as one the Beast's best, he brought out the best of Jinder Mahal at Clash of Champions and the six pack challenge at Fastlane was definitely an entertaining bout. But, after that things went downhill fast.
I do not mean to say that the matches since Mania were bad, but something more was definitely expected from them. Nakamura vs Styles at Mania was a disappointment for the lack of a proper storyline, and after that, every match was simply lacklustre. As WWE decided to play safe too often, we got two draws. First, at the Greatest Royal Rumble and then at Backlash. Although they redeemed themselves at Money in The Bank, the storyline was far too much stretched out for the match to have any relevance.
After a one-time encounter against Rusev at Extreme Rules, which was far too predictable, WWE repeated the same mistakes against Samoa Joe. Their Summerslam match was turning out to be great, but the payoff was definitely not good. Joe repeatedly lost to Styles at Hell in a Cell, Super Showdown and Crown Jewel, thus effectively stopping all his momentum.
I am not saying that the matches were bad, but due to booking faults, the matches had no hype which no amount of in-ring excellence can cure.
#2. The wrong guys were victorious in the end
WWE's plans of making Styles have a long run with the belt definitely resulted in the killing of momentum of a lot of guys. As is inevitable, WWE had to make sure that Styles came out as the victor even though losing the match could kill the momentum of his opponent.
The first example is Jinder Mahal. Although the Jinder experiment couldn't possibly have succeeded, but since losing his championship to AJ Styles, Mahal has been reduced to a jobber. Although he did win the US Championship at Wrestlemania, he immediately lost it the next week.
The second example is Shinsuke Nakamura. Many people had predicted that Nakamura will finally win the WWE Championship from Styles at Wrestlemania. But, he lost that match. After a couple of no-finishes, he concluded his rivalry with Styles by losing to him at MITB. Although one can argue that being the US Champion is not a bad end-result, but look at his treatment as the champ. He barely even appears on SDLive and rarely defends the belt on PPVs.
The third example is Rusev. Although WWE waited too long to capitalize on his momentum, a title win would have rejuvenated his career. Since his loss to Styles, he has not even come close to win the mid-card belts and is now effectively a jobber.
The fourth and final example is Samoa Joe. After being revealed as Styles' competitor for Summerslam, Joe has just went down a downward trajectory. He lost to Styles at Hell in a Cell, Super Showdown and Crown Jewel, ultimately killing off any momentum he had. WWE even buried him at Survivor Series by eliminating him from the match in just a few minutes. Had he won the championship at some point, his fate would definitely have been better.
#3. Terrible Rivalries
This is perhaps the biggest reason why Styles was a bad champion. Due to his substandard rivalries. Honestly, I was never legitimately excited for any match throughout his title reign (Except perhaps Bryan vs Styles at Crown Jewel). There was never a good story line and even if there was one, it was dragged out till it lost all relevance. Let's analyze each of his rivalries since winning the belt.
Jinder Mahal: This rivalry was essentially established just to serve an excuse for the obligatory championship rematch. Although the match was good, it was never extended beyond Clash of Champions.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn:This rivalry was never centered around the WWE Championship. AJ was portrayed as a victim in the power struggle between the GM and Commissioner of Smackdown.
Shinsuke Nakamura: This rivalry had a lot of potential. But, WWE made a lot of mistakes with this one. First, they relied on the 'dream match' gimmick and never provided a decent story line to Nakamura and Styles to work on. After that, they repeatedly put on draws and no-finish matches which made the story line lose all its heat. Eventually, they let Nakamura out of the title picture at MITB.
Samoa Joe: In the beginning, this rivalry was very personal. Samoa Joe's shots on Styles' family created much hype for their initial matches. But, WWE never utilized any other angle for this rivalry. Joe kept repeating the same promos until his lost to Styles. Then he lost again. And again. By making Joe repeatedly lose to Styles, any semblance of a rivalry was destroyed.
Overall, there was not even one quality rivalry throughout AJ Styles 371-days run as champion.
So there you have it. My reasons on why AJ Styles was a bad champion. If you have another opinion, do leave a comment. Adios.
