Are we just going to accept that AJ Styles made SmackDown interesting?
His run:
-Cena and Ambrose feuds
-That really bad ELLSWORTH angle
and that's pretty much it.
His promos with Cena and Ambrose were great, but he was basically rehashing promos of other guys in the past vs Cena and Ambrose. The guy was never too good in the mic and his promos were extremely redundant. House that AJ Styles built, Face that runs the place, etc. His matches with Cena were great, but how many GREAT matches did he have besides Cena during his run?
THE MIZ should be given more credit. The guy exploded with his Talking Smack promo and cut TRUE heel promos week in and out. He made SmackDown interesting and he made it the land of opportunity.
Miz's run:
FACE of SMACKDOWN LIVE
Best heel in the company
Focal point of BEST SD PPV NO MERCY
Main instigator of SMACKDOWN LIVE'S PEAK
Sorry, but for 2016, MIZ>STYLES when it comes to making SmackDown interesting.
Are we just going to accept that AJ Styles made SmackDown interesting?
His run:
Cena and Ambrose feuds
That really bad ELLSWORTH angle
and that's pretty much it.
His promos with Cena and Ambrose were great, but he was basically rehashing promos of other guys in the past vs Cena and Ambrose. The guy was never too good in the mic and his promos were extremely redundant. House that AJ Styles built, Face that runs the place, etc. His matches with Cena were great, but how many GREAT matches did he have besides Cena during his run?
THE MIZ should be given more credit. The guy exploded with his Talking Smack promo and cut TRUE heel promos week in and out. He made SmackDown interesting and he made it the land of opportunity.
Sorry, but for 2016, MIZ>STYLES when it comes to making SmackDown interesting.
A bit of revisionist history here mate. Actually a lot. Just the Dean Ambrose and John Cena feud. Yeah mean, just. Its not like those feuds in total extended for like 7 months and something. And its not like the Ellsworth fiasco was anything that bad. It was just bad because most people thought it would damage Styles' credibility. As a piece of TV, it was somewhat entertaining and not really bad segments. And it lasted for no more than a month and Styles got his win back in domination fashion.
Miz really did explode once he did that Talking Smack promo, but people forget prior to that he had heatless PPV matches with Darren Young and Apollo Crews. And post that he had an amazing 2 month long feud with Ziggler but that was it really. The man has always been consistently somewhat entertaining even without a feud, but he just didn't do much on smakdown more than Styles. I mean after the Ziggler feud he had a short feud with Ambrose which he lost, then went into an EC match where he lasted for one minute and then got into an entertaining feud with Cena that ended on a damp note for him. You could argue that Miz's booking hurt him, but in the end that doesn't really matter because the bottom line is Styles did more for the recognition of Smackdown over Miz. Miz held down the midcard, but it was just that the midcard while Styles was in the main event and was in consistently entertaining feuds with Ambrose, Cena and admitttedly Shane.
I hate to give the boring, cliche answer but it was a joint effort.
AJ fit in perfectly as the face of the brand with Cena away delivering great match after great match. Miz reinvented himself as the top heel and had several great promos and matches with Ziggler. Ambrose, besides one bad match at Summerslam upped his game in the ring against AJ and the Miz and on the mic. Cena did his thing while he was there. Ziggler for a short run was great. Bray and Orton, when they were together, were great.
Everyone played their part but AJ takes most of the plaudits as he was the most over and main evented more than anyone else on the SD roster. He really is the face of SD even now when he's out of the main program.
Just me, but I only gave it a chance because of AJ, Cena and Orton.
Those three and the WWE title gave it legitimacy, The Miz as good as he was never was positioned to be anything more than mid to uppercard on SD. He had a chance of breaking through to main event level but was traded to Raw before he could do that.
Don't get me wrong, Miz was great no doubt, but he was never truly the main event or involved in the main program for the show i.e. the part that should draw the most.
Only thing that made SD interesting for me was, Styles/Ambrose and Alexa/Becky, My interest started to fade during RTWM. With Styles/Shane being built and them going away from what seemed like it was gonna be Alexa/Becky/Mickie at WM to hot-shot the title to Naomi and then make an open-ended clusterfuck match because they didn't know if she would be back for WM.
The reason SDL was preferred by so many people was the fact that multiple people were shining, Styles and Miz were the main two, Styles i think was the main star, but if you take one of them away, the show quality does drop considerably, they both deserve a lot of credit.
The show was at its best since the brand split with AJ on top for me. AJ vs Cena was feud of the year and a huge step for the company in that it allowed the face of another prominent company to go over their face. He got the best matches out of Ambrose that anyone had in ages. The show was regularly being praised as the better show during his time on top. The title was great on the guy consistently giving us the best matches. To top it all off....he gave us the WM MOTN with......Shane.
Miz has been great with his character and mic work and his ring work has improved immensely. If I had to pick a number 2, it would certainly be him.
Aj brought me back to the shit show that is Wwe after 15 fucking years. I love Miz but he is not what brought me back. Aj had a hand full of matches already that Miz will never come close to.
Honestly stop overrating Miz now guys, he had some great Talking Smack moments & the Ziggler feud but almost everything else has been vastly overrated
AJ was the MVP & Ambrose was the underrated workhorse of it (despite the lazy talk & mostly looking like he was phoning it in at points), the whole "bla bla built" is very lame though
Well tbh, The Miz & Maryse carried the RTWM for Smackdown. Their Total Bellas skits was the only thing that was consistently entertaining for the show.
I think AJ and The Miz were the main stars. Cena was not there all the time, Dean fizzled out after he lost the title, Orton and Wyatt never got on a real roll.
I agree with OP but then again, I'm not a big fan of any of tthe other faces of SDL so he made that show not just watchable, but must watch. I think people forget that Miz would have multiple segments every show, he made the IC prestigious again, revived Ziggler's career, Miz tv facilitated feuds he wasn't even in and he put Talking Smack on the map; all Styles did was put on good matches and keep an already prestigious title at the same level and Cena was barely ever there.
SD Live is still more or less on the same level with Miz gone, take AJ out and it's a different story. He's the top dog, the face of the show and the man who was a big reason behind their highest rated shows.
Miz is pretty much doing the same stuff on Raw and feels like just another guy. He was great in the lead up to WM but then put on a dud at WM (no fault of his own). Breezango have taken his spot on SD and are also killing it, is SD now the house Breezango built?
There's a lot of revisionist history going here and lack of understanding on a how a wrestling show works. It's the main event that sells shows, not the undercard. Miz helped to hold the midcard down, but he never got to the top to truly make the show his.
Technically, Smackdown Live is the house the Rock built.
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