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What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when they should be huge matches

10K views 103 replies 83 participants last post by  Papadoc81 
#1 ·
From Nakamura to Samoe Joe, Randy Orton and Ricochet. Something is not clicking with these matches.

On paper when you see AJ next to these names your like "Awe hell yeah! Thats gonna be a badass match! This could possibly steal the show!"

But yet it doesn't. Nor do the matches come off as great. As soon as the match is done we roll on probably never to watch that match again.

How many actually remember the Orton vs Styles match at WM35? By the time half the ppv was done the match was already forgotton about.

Thats not to take anything away from AJ he is a great performer and a great athlete. I watched TNA the couple of first years it started and AJ was incredible in TNA probably the best and biggest star at that time in the company.

The only match id probably go back and watch is Seth vs AJ at MITB. That was actually a good match
 
#2 · (Edited)
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

Because he's actually a shit worker and nobody realizes it because they think Indies automatically means good.

That's why the matches don't work. He sucks. I've never understood this "he's the next Shawn Michaels", "he's the next Kurt Angle", "he's as good as Daniel Bryan" mentality. No, he's not. He fucking sucks.
 
#75 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

Because he's actually a shit worker and nobody realizes it because they think Indies automatically means good.

That's why the matches don't work. He sucks. I've never understood this "he's the next Shawn Michaels", "he's the next Kurt Angle", "he's as good as Daniel Bryan" mentality. No, he's not. He fucking sucks.
Oh this is real harsh lol. He basically carried TNA.

What's happening is he's pulling a Jericho - he's older now so he's not doing all the things that initially made him a big name.
 
#3 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

Look at the names you mentioned.

Now look at his matches with Big Dog (which was one of the best series of matches for the last 5 years) or his matches with Cena. It's because he's working with people who aren't even close to being stars or can't put on a 4*+ match to save their lives.
 
#9 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

His matches against Cena, Brock & Randy Orton we're all good to great...
The matches with Cena were all just finisher kick-out fests. Took me completely out of all of them. I didn't see the match with Orton and I can't remember the match with Brock.

The only AJ match I've enjoyed in his 3 and a half years was his gimmick match with Reigns for the title a few months after he debuted. Even Bryan couldn't drag a decent match out of this hack.

People are going to think I'm trolling, and I'm honestly not, but I think The Miz is a better worker than AJ Styles. I don't think Miz is good either, but AJ is a 20 year novice.
 
#84 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

I woke up on the wrong side of the multiverse it seems. Aj fucking styles is a bad worker now?!
This entire forum is loaded with contrarians and cynical people who treat this hobby far too seriously despite getting burned by a shitty product. Don't even trip.
 
#25 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

No, not now, since 1998.

When you have a terrible match with Okada of all people, you shouldn't be in the business.
I know better than to try and change your mind. But I'll see your new Japan okada match, and raise you his new Japan Suzuki match.

I'll give you the fact that aj has never blown me away on the mic. In fact, during the majority of his tna run I'd either have to change the channel or focus on something else if he was cutting a promo. BUT...! If were talking about in the ring?! Aj has a ton of classics just in tna alone. I know you're a samoa Joe guy. You didn't love the 3 way with them and daniels?!

Those are a couple of examples of aj being fantastic in the ring. But hey, to each their own. Just seems like your opinion is a bit harsh
 
#8 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

Here is the thing...

Wrestling is ultimately storytelling. The match is 1 part of the story. The other parts are the angle, how its booked, the promo's around it, etc. Wresting is at its best and most memorable when all of those things work together to tell a story the fans connect with and care about.

For better or worse, modern WWE usually makes a mess of the angles, booking and promos. That just leaves the match.
One of the issues with many of the matches in the WWE is that while the work-rate is excellent they come across as a buncha moves strung together rather than a story being told.
 
#13 ·
Here is the thing...

Wrestling is ultimately storytelling. The match is 1 part of the story. The other parts are the angle, how its booked, the promo's around it, etc. Wresting is at its best and most memorable when all of those things work together to tell a story the fans connect with and care about.

For better or worse, modern WWE usually makes a mess of the angles, booking and promos. That just leaves the match.
One of the issues with many of the matches in the WWE is that while the work-rate is excellent they come across as a buncha moves strung together rather than a story being told.
All of this, plus WWE is reportedly pretty heavy-handed with its agents laying out the matches themselves, what moves come when, even what moves they are and are not allowed to use. I mean, who there actually HAS had a decent match lately?
 
#10 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

On paper Ricochet and AJ was a dream match for me.

Taking out Ricochet's leg made perfect sense kayfabe wise, but it was a super disappointing decision.
It really handicapped the coolest story they could have told, old school flyer vs new school flyer.

I think weird decisions like that have made some of his spotlight matches underwhelming as hell... which I can admit as an enormous AJ Styles mark.
IDK if that's WWE, the match's agent or AJ himself making these calls, but stop it.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

On paper Ricochet and AJ was a dream match for me.Taking out Ricochet's leg made perfect sense kayfabe wise, but it was a super disappointing decision.It really handicapped the coolest story they could have told, old school flyer vs new school flyer. I think weird decisions like that have made some of his spotlight matches underwhelming as hell... which I can admit as an enormous AJ Styles mark.
IDK if that's WWE, the match's agent or AJ himself making these calls, but stop it.
That's not even a weird decision, that's got to be 90+ percent of every WWE match where somebody can fly, they make somebody come into the match injured which makes all the high flying feel phony, or they have one of the wrestlers work the bejeezus out of somebody's knees, calves and ankles, do like, 25 things to somebody's legs at a point in the match, then it slows the match down, and you came to see the wrestler fly around anyhow so he's still going to get all his shit in while wincing and grimacing, so now the match is super phony.

Show me one WWE PPV match where two high flyers rip it up full bore for 15 minutes with the story being one quick cat was a bit quicker than the other, Quick Draw McGraw was the fastest gunslinger in the West that night, and I'll show you at least 10 WWE house style "work the X" BS matches that go 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40+ minutes to feel "epic."

.
 
#11 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

AJ Styles is one of the best wrestlers that they have on the main roster though :lol

Hell, his matches against Daniel Bryan were pretty good; ESPECIALLY that one they had at TLC 2018. That match is a MOTY candidate from last year.
 
#12 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

I'm a big AJ fan but OP does have a point.. You have talents like Jericho who can carry anyone to a PPV feeling match..

AJ isn't one of those people, never has, never will be. He's always relied more on his presence then carrying those under him. He can put on stellar matches when matched up with those he "clicks" with.. Outside that though he has always struggled.
 
#16 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

I'm a big AJ fan but OP does have a point.. You have talents like Jericho who can carry anyone to a PPV feeling match..

AJ isn't one of those people, never has, never will be. He's always relied more on his presence then carrying those under him. He can put on stellar matches when matched up with those he "clicks" with.. Outside that though he has always struggled.
Anyone else looking for the loop on this guys sig? :lol
 
#17 · (Edited)
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

He's winding down. WWE has become a retirement home for good wrestlers. They get a lot more money and yet don't feel the pressure to put on amazing matches.

The days of 5 star AJ matches are long past because he has done all that. WWE = More money/less effort :shrug
 
#19 · (Edited)
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

He's not wrestling Okada anymore.

Honestly, in NJPW he got to wrestle the greatest in-ring workers in the business. Nakamura has slowed down a lot since NJPW, and the WWE match designers have really sucked in the last 4-5 years. There are some exceptions here and there, but there is a reason why so many matches in the past year have been poorly designed.

To a degree AJ is also riding on his rep now and coasting, much like everyone else in this company.

Now. I do like AJ. Or at least respect him a lot. His run in TNA was good, but his run in NJPW made me finally think he deserved his rep. However, my complaint lately is that AJ's reactions for the most part has cooled down A LOT over the past 2 years, and there are many of his matches in 2019 which just have NO heat. Anyone else in the company would have been bumped off "favorable" status by now with the reactions he had been getting, but he's still clearly favored by Vince. Cesaro's lone PPV singles match this year with Aleister Black which had far less build was much better received by both the crowd and the smarks.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

I thought the match with Orton was good. Personally, I don't go back and rewatch matches if I wasn't legit invested in the storyline. I've seen plenty of good matches that I will likely never rewatch. For me the best Aj Styles matches were the ones with Roman, the 2nd and 3rd match he had with Dean, and the RR 2017 match with Cena.
 
#22 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

How many actually remember the Orton vs Styles match at WM35?
How many people remember what happened at the last five PPVs ? There's nothing memorable about WWE anymore.

And Styles is one of their best workers.
 
#29 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

I mostly blame it on the fact that they are happening on the main roster and main roster men have a difficult time having great matches. When I look back on all my favorite matches from the last 3 years, it is basically 90% NXT. But AJ Still has great matches every year. This year he had a great match with Seth Rollins. It is just that the main roster format sucks and half the time the main roster crowd is never into the match because they are never into any match because they love to basically just hate everything put in front of them. But when i think of all the GREAT main roster matches of the last 3 years, it looks like this (not counting 205 live):

2019:
Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston
AJ STyles vs. Daniel Bryan vs. jeff Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton vs. Samoa Joe (Elimination Chamber)
AJ Styles vs. Seth Rollins
Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio
Daniel Bryan vs. Kevin Owens vs. Mustafa Ali

2018:
Brock Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
Asuka vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
Ambrose & Rollins vs. Ziggler & McIntyre
AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan
AJ STyles vs. Daniel Bryan
Seth Rollins vs. The Miz
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
New Day vs. The bar
AJ STyles vs. Samoa Joe
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (Last man Standing)
Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins
Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair

2017:
Braun STrowman vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
AJ Styles vs. john Cena
New Day vs. The Usos
Elimintaion Chamber (STyles, Wyatt, Corbin, Ambrose, Cena, Miz)
AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor
New Day vs. Usos again
The Bar vs. Ambrose and Rollins
Money in the Bank (STyles, Corbin, Ziggler, owens, Zayn, Nakamura)
AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose

So now that I list out all of the great main roster matches of the last 3 years I realize a couple things. There really aren't that many of them considering the amount of talent they have andAJ Styles name is basically all over these lists. When it comes to why these big time matches seem to be falling short I think a lot of it has to do with how main roster matches are produced. I guarantee that AJ vs. Ricochet at an NXT Takeover would blow the roof off the place. But on the main roster, they get held back and they perform in front of a dead crowd so it takes away a lot of they excitement.
 
#31 ·
Re: What is it about AJ Styles matches that are not clicking when should be huge matches

I still think Styles is great, and hell, his match with Orton was literally GALAXIES ahead of Kofi's match with Orton, and they had to deal with the retarded light issues. His match with Rollins was really good. His match with Joe were awesome, I don't know what you are on about that, he's had Joe's best singles matches on the roster. His matches with Nakamura weren't even bad, just underwhelming, the last man standing match was actually really good, and the Backlash match was going really well until that atrocious finish. Everyone loved Rollins' match with Lesnar, but I think AJ had the better match with Lesnar.

I think AJ just set the bar so fucking astronomically high with his first year, the matches with Reigns/Cena/Ambrose were epic, and he carried Shane to a great match.
 
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