Wrestling Forum banner

Why did AJ lose clean?

8K views 136 replies 98 participants last post by  Hennessey 
#1 ·
It seems WWE is in full bury mode. I already knew he would lose the match since KO would definitely be in the MITB match, but I assumed Gallows and Anderson would cost him the match. Never in a million years did I assume he would lose clean, coming off the embarrassing defeat at Extreme Rules.

What the hell are they doing to this guy?
 
#2 ·
Poor Booking. That's all I can come up with. Owens and Styles probably shoulden't of been facing each other. Styles needed a build up. And he diddn't get it. Infact they buried him on commentary. Then they buried him in the ring lol. I don't know.
 
#39 ·
2) They want to go with that "see, you DO need us" storyline with Anderson/Gallows.
This is the ONLY saving grace, but after Drew McIntyre I can't really ever have faith in a losing streak storyline, especially if it includes my favourite wrestler.
 
#14 · (Edited)
AJ was a top guy in another company.

This means that he has to be made to look inferior to all of WWE's top guys. There's a lot more to come. Cena, Orton, Rollins, etc. sooner or later they will all run through Styles.

AJ was brought in for a similar purpose as Sting, the difference being that AJ can still go so they can use him to put over more guys.
 
#3 ·
It was quite disappointing to see him lose clean, and get speared by Reigns despite him taking 5 chairshots and taking 2 styles clashes. If you're gonna make AJ lose at least make him look better, make the Usos beat him up or something, treat the man better as he deserves it. Now he's just buried, Seth is back in the title picture and AJ is likely gonna be relegated to midcard. What a waste of talent just to make Reigns look strong, they could've at least made the Club turn on him if they're gonna do it on RAW anyway, shame on the WWE.
 
#9 ·
Owens and Styles shouldn't have faced each other, that's a money match up down the line.

But shockingly I'm fine with it. AJ getting a super push and winning every match is not what he needs. It opens him up for MITB instead of the 'him getting screwed by Anderson/Gallows' in the match. Owens looks stronger than everyone in the match because he beat a somewhat established Styles. And knowing WWE's booking unless it's a story for Anderson/Gallows/maybe Balor, they'll probably have him beat someone clean next week.

Bottom line, no one is harmed by losing clean once in a while. AJ will still be over, and Owens has some momentum hopefully to build to a MITB win. It'll be worth it if Owens wins the match, he's damn ready for a main event spot.
 
#11 ·
Styles has already lost clean in last 4 one on one matches though.

The issue is he comes out, tells Anderson and Gallows he would have won without them and he doesn't need them but goes and gets his ass beat clean minutes later.

It made him look like a jackass which by the booking is by design.

If they wanted to split them up then they should have turned on him not the other way around, just dumb.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Ever since AJ has been in WWE, he's been a good competitor, but he's failed to win the big one. He couldn't put Jericho away at Mania when it mattered & he couldn't put Roman away. Now, 24 hours after the biggest defeat of his career he loses an opportunity to be in the MITB match in the main event of RAW moments after he ditched his buddies because 'he doesn't need them' - maybe he does need them? Maybe it's all getting to his head? The shot of AJ on the ramp looking frustrated and disappointed wasn't shown by coincidence. That looks like the story they're trying to tell to me.

That's what storytelling is - creating obstacles for characters to overcome, and it's no different in wrestling. I'm interested to see where they go with this.
 
#25 ·
Love this post. I think they're playing a long-game with Styles. Like this poster said, the narrative will be that he can get close to the big-time in the WWE but can't quite pull it off when it matters. "He's won titles all over the world, but can't quite reach the richest prize in the business" will be the quotes. Makes the WWE look better and more prestigious than their rivals. And it will all pay off further down the line when he eventually gets there (which he will). It'll cause a much bigger reaction if he wins the title after months and months of graft in the WWE, and so many nearly-moments, than waltzing into WWE and taking the title in the first couple of months. Just gotta be patient.

And talk of Styles being "buried" is a joke. Did you not see how amazing Styles looked headlining the two PPVs in a row? And for all the talk of Reigns being protected so much - when was the last time we saw him look as vulnerable as he did against Styles at those PPVs? Styles hasn't been made to look like a chump at all - just been made to look like at the moment he can't quite grab that big opportunity or that big title win - which is part of that longer story arc for him.

This may be me dreaming but I can see him getting his *big* moment at Wrestlemania next year against Rollins.
 
#21 ·
If AJ is currently being buried, I bet 95% of the roster would love to be buried in the same way, and 99.9% of professional wrestlers would to.

Why did he lose clean? Because that's what's supposed to happen in wrestling, and we are so ingrained with the belief that it can never happen that when someone does, it's illogical and "buried". If they are building up Owens, great he has now gone over someone who the previous night took the world champion to the wire, if they are dropping AJ down then it isn't like he hasn't got a program to be heading into nor losing to Zack Ryder.

AJ has done more in his main event feud in getting the matches over than anyone has, in my opinion, for a long time, possibly years. He had Reigns beat but was deterred by an Uso, that's not clean; if Reigns was a heel that would be something we have seen hundreds of times before. Styles has consistently performed and has become a top guy in WWE over the past few months, involved in segments, matches and the world title picture, but because he has lost a few matches overall it's "why are they burying him?". Yes I know he lost, but to WWE Roman Reigns as champion is the way they are going now and honestly, if I'm going to get matches like I did at Extreme Rules involving AJ then I'm happy.

If Kevin Owens is getting a push and AJ lost to him, then that's okay with me too. AJ is still on the high level he was before then. If you take wins and losses out of the picture and have everyone on the level that they're on despite their record, then AJ is at the peak of the company.
 
#47 ·
Why did he lose clean? Because that's what's supposed to happen in wrestling, and we are so ingrained with the belief that it can never happen that when someone does, it's illogical and "buried". If they are building up

Oh rly? When was the last time Roman Reigns was pinned cleanly?

AJ is still on the high level he was before then. If you take wins and losses out of the picture and have everyone on the level that they're on despite their record, then AJ is at the peak of the company
No. AJ has no credibility left. He cant win single matches. Is 0-3 in PPV. Just lost clean again on RAW. The weeks leading up to extreme rules he got his ass kicked every week by Reigns...Usually the feud goes back and forth...Nope it was just Reigns dominating..

The dude is a sinking ship..But its okay cause he just might get a win next week against some lower mid carder next week right?
 
#4 ·
Because KO is about to Mr. MITB.

AJ can either go after Miz for the IC title, or they'll hotshot Balor to the main roster at MITB and have him take over the club..(Owens actually mentioned in a wwe.com promo after his match tonight that "the club" wasn't even ran by AJ in Japan..It was ran by.."someone else")..And then you can do AJ vs. Balor at Summerslam.
 
#13 ·
People are complaining that he put over Kevin Owens? And that a heel won clean? AJ isn't jobbing clean to the social dorks. Kevin isn't a no hoper. AJ is fine. His still a face which means no Cena feud be happy
 
  • Like
Reactions: RetepAdam.
#17 ·
Buried?? He just main evented two PPVs for the WWE Heavywe- you know what, never mind.

I think it's sad how people are like "How could AJ lose to someone like Kevin Owens!?" because that's not only disrespectful to Kevin but really hypocritical. You all go on and on about how you want him to finally get a push and what you clearly don't get is that in order to push someone, they need to go over someone established. AJ could afford to eat the defeat whereas if Kevin lost, it wouldn't do anything for his character other than make him look weak.

AJ's loss could be explained by him being beaten up from Extreme Rules or TBC getting in his head. There are so many ways WWE can go with this and AJ isn't off the PPV card forever. He'll likely finish up his feud with TBC and move onto a feud with Balor.

OT but why should AJ cut to the front of the line and win the WWE title? It hasn't even been a year he's with the company. The Universe doesn't even know who AJ is as a character quite yet, yet you want the strap around him because.....?
 
#19 · (Edited)
AJ was a star without the WWE machine. Instead of giving the star a larger platform they try some political shit that makes people in the back happy, but makes zero business sense.

When you've got a star, do you make him pay dues, or make some damn money?

You ride this wave, not kill it. He's over as hell and probably the best wrestler in the company. He's such a force of nature, that he was making huge merch sales for the company, despite his short time.

When he's clearly a star, you strap a rocket to his ass and go with it. Not cut him down just to fuck the fans and make a 'Diesel' clone look strong.
 
#76 · (Edited)
I don't like it, but I get a slightly immature satisfaction when WWE feeds smark favorites to other smark favorites. It's so funny watching people squirm in the decision to have double standards or not.

Styles gets weakly pinned by Roman after getting 2 spears, black tiger bombed, powerbombed through a table, and beaten into everything in range by his feet, and everyone loses their minds that he lost to a guy who hasn't been champion for even 2 months yet. But Owens beats him clean as a whistle in a much lower quality match and everyone acts only slightly disappointed.:lol

But in all honestly I don't like him getting pinned randomly on Raw. Hopefully this is all a plan to bring him down and then build him back up for a good title reign next year.

Edit: It seems the general consensus of wrestling fans is that the winner of a match only looks strong when it's Roman winning. There's a problem with Styles losing a long hard fought match to Reigns, but not so much losing a quick match to Owens.

You all telling me AJ didn't mane Owens look strong?
 
#85 ·
It amazes me how people are STILL acting surprised that the former "Mr. TNA" is being given 50/50 booking at the highest order.

The honeymoon is long over. This company is so petty and uptight that anything that wasn't a Vince/WWE creation, they'll actively "humble and throw under the bus". Even if it able to make some money for the company and create a star.

AJ Styles is not a WWE/Vince creation, hence what you are seeing with him.
 
#89 ·
This. It's amazing that people thought anything different was gonna happen to AJ, after the booking of Goldberg, DDP, Booker T, Sting, Scott Steiner, etc. etc.

History has shown that if you're not a creation of Vince McMahon, then you're not gonna amount to shit in WWE.


Let us complain about AJ losing matches when just a few years ago when he was in TNA, everyone was saying AJ would never amount to anything in the WWE and never compete for the WWE Championship.. now him competing for the belt isn't enough.. It's clear they want Rollins/Reigns to feud over the belt, and it makes the most sense, AJ doesn't need to be inserted into this story. He currently has his own stuff going on with Gallows and Anderson. Someone mentioned it before me about how he's probably going to lose a bunch and turn full blown heel with the help of Gallows and Anderson.
Except AJ Styles hasn't amounted to anything in WWE. He's challenged for the title, and lost, twice.
 
#106 ·
Except AJ Styles hasn't amounted to anything in WWE. He's challenged for the title, and lost, twice.
You're missing the entire point.. he's been in the WWE since the Rumble, he hasn't even been in the company a full year or been established, he came into the company as an established star from the independent scene and TNA.

Who comes into the WWE as an indy darling and gets into the spotlight so quick? He doesn't have to win the belt to earn credibility, he's gained credibility just by being in the spotlight and getting mic times and so much minutes on television. I think people just have a poor perception of how WWE books sometimes and expects too many people to be in the spotlight simultaneously. I think he's being booked totally fine. Punk and Daniels had to go through so much just to see similar opportunities.
 
#110 ·
Come on guys. A lost with Kevin Owens in the main event of Raw just one day after the extreme rules match with Reigns is not a burial in any way. Wait a couple of more weeks after making such an statement.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JBLoser
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top