AJ Styles Promo, James Ellsworth vs AJ Styles:
Segment Grade: 9/10
This may just be because of my love for AJ Styles, but Styles’ heel promos as of late have been nothing short of brilliant. Coming across as the incredibly arrogant, over the top jerk, Styles is incredible when allowed to bask in the glory of his victories.
A wonderful promo to back up yet another pinfall win over John Cena, Styles was excellent here and once again proved those who said that he is weak on the mic wrong.
Match Grade: 6.5/10
As much as I adore James Ellsworth, this was a rare dumb booking decision in the Smackdown Live main event scene. Rather than building towards an Ambrose-Styles rematch with a strong bout between Styles and a worthy babyface on the roster.
James Ellsworth was placed in a bout with the WWE World Champion, with Ambrose as special guest referee. The shenanigans between Styles and Ambrose were entertaining, sure, but instead of catapulting an up and coming babyface like Apollo Crews, by giving him a pinfall victory over Styles (albeit a fast count).
WWE instead had Ellsworth beat Styles, which didn’t help anyone. This was still very entertaining, but a stronger beginning to a Styles-Ambrose rematch would have been appreciated, as this didn’t feel like a good start to a WWE World Title program.
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It should be noted that Styles held back on the impact by cutting short the elevation and landing on his hands. He can be seen checking on Ellsworth right after the move. Ellsworth, meanwhile, was busy selling the move like a boss.
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