Nearly All of AJ's Non World Title Feuds Have Been Duds

[LiamMcDuggle]

While I loved his programs with Roman, Cena, and Mox, his time outside of the world title picture has not been that great. 

Can someone point to an amazing non world title feud he as been in that has been good? Just seemed like LA Knight's momentum suddenly just stopped when entering this feud with AJ 

[Lizuka #BLM]

Hey, hey, being fair, other than maybe Mox all of his feuds as champion have ALSO sucked.

[Nosnorb]

His feud with Daniel Bryan was also pretty good, and his program with Shane McMahon was also good for what it was and at the time felt like a bit of a waste of AJ given how good Styles was then.

[BorneAgain]

It's kind of astounding to realize that the Claire Lynch angle in TNA still produced a more entertaining feud (and often better matches) than most of AJ's WWE programs.

[Nosnorb]

Mar 10, 2024 19:05:31 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

It's kind of astounding to realize that the Claire Lynch angle in TNA still produced a more entertaining feud (and often better matches) than most of AJ's WWE programs.

Daniels was great in ring and Kazarian was no slouch himself, and character wise Bad Influence was brilliant. Looking at both in ring and character work, I don't think that Styles had a better dance partner in WWE than Daniels circa 2012 was in TNA apart from Daniel Bryan.

[fw91]

imo, his only mania match that didn't underwhelm was his match with Shane at Mania 33.

[Lizuka #BLM]

Other than maybe KO and Nakamura I think Bryan is the first person that comes to mind for me for bad AJ Styles feuds. It should've been good but other than the one where Bryan won the title the matches were okay at best (and I kind of hesitate to go that far, their Rumble match sucked ass) and Bryan's character at that point when he was just going on about veganism every week for cheap heat was intolerable. And it's not like AJ was actually bringing anything to the table to counterbalance it, it was basically Bryan giving long speeches every week and then maybe AJ would silently run him off. That shit sucked.

[ChitownKnight]

I think his fued with Orton going into mania 35 was pretty good

[Lizuka #BLM]

Mar 10, 2024 20:20:03 GMT -5 ChitownKnight said:

I think his fued with Orton going into mania 35 was pretty good

Feud was fine but the match majorly underdelivered. Their SmackDown match a couple years prior was great but the Mania match was just dull.

[saneiac]

Was "Beat up John Cena!" a world title feud? I loved that one.

The Taker feud was fun even though AJ came out of it looking like a chump.
The Edge feud created The Judgment Day and had good matches.
vs Shane at Wrestlemania over-delivered.

[polarbearpete]

He usually has pretty good feuds , but sometimes the payoffs (especially at Mania) underwhelm.

[Jindrak Mark]

Mar 10, 2024 19:24:07 GMT -5 fw91 said:

imo, his only mania match that didn't underwhelm was his match with Shane at Mania 33.

The tag match with New Day in 2021 I remember liking and being shocked at how much the crowd loved Omos that night but yeah the matches with Nakamura, Orton and Edge didn't live up to the hype.

It reminds me of Jericho in the 2010s. He had a lot of big Mania matches that decade that were talked up as potentially being classics but usually ended up underwhelming. 2010 v Edge. 2012 v Punk. 2016 v Styles. 2017 v Owens. The Fandango match wasn't great either but that at least didn't have big expectations going in.

[One-Armed Drummer of Defrebel]

DON'T GO IN MAH HOUSE DUDE

[Totorob101]

I think he needs a whole revamp in look and character and honestly ring work has been very bland and mediocre for years now that it's rare when he actually has a good one these days.

[Doo Doo is Worse Than WCW 2000]

Mar 11, 2024 14:56:09 GMT -5 Totorob101 said:

I think he needs a whole revamp in look and character and honestly ring work has been very bland and mediocre for years now that it's rare when he actually has a good one these days.

Father time catches up with everyone at some point, and I think it finally has with AJ.

[Andee9001]

I guess i'm in the minority that liked his feud with Jericho. I liked the stuff with Cena too and i liked his feuds with Shane, Taker, Orton and Edge.

His US title run was fun too

[UN PLOMBIER NIGHTMARE #blm]

Mar 11, 2024 14:56:09 GMT -5 Totorob101 said:

I think he needs a whole revamp in look and character and honestly ring work has been very bland and mediocre for years now that it's rare when he actually has a good one these days.

the funny thing is that his look he has now is supposed to be a whole revamp, not what it actually is which is angry bloated dad in a coat

[Wardlow on Wardlow 54]

I'd say he hasn't had a great feud since 2017.

The feuds with Jericho, Roman, Cena, Ambrose and Shane were all great and gave him a hell of a resume after one year in WWE. Even the feud with KO wasn't too bad, even if the rehash after Sami joined with Owens wasn't as good. The Mahal feud... happened. The Nakamura feud is where we get into the real bad shit. The Mania match with Nak put me to sleep, the GRR match ended up being a waste of time, and I honestly can't remember their other matches. The feud with Joe... yeah. Once you got to D-Bry, at least there was some actual meat to that program. I don't even remember why he was feuding with Orton, and most of his 2019 Raw feuds were forgettable. I liked his brief IC Title run (the Joseph Parks cameo was fun), but they blew that off way too soon. The tag team with Omos was some decent stuff, but I hated how it ended.

[King Devitt]

Mar 11, 2024 18:25:10 GMT -5 Wardlow on Wardlow 54 said:

I'd say he hasn't had a great feud since 2017.

The feuds with Jericho, Roman, Cena, Ambrose and Shane were all great and gave him a hell of a resume after one year in WWE. Even the feud with KO wasn't too bad, even if the rehash after Sami joined with Owens wasn't as good. The Mahal feud... happened. The Nakamura feud is where we get into the real bad shit. The Mania match with Nak put me to sleep, the GRR match ended up being a waste of time, and I honestly can't remember their other matches. The feud with Joe... yeah. Once you got to D-Bry, at least there was some actual meat to that program. I don't even remember why he was feuding with Orton, and most of his 2019 Raw feuds were forgettable. I liked his brief IC Title run (the Joseph Parks cameo was fun), but they blew that off way too soon. The tag team with Omos was some decent stuff, but I hated how it ended.

Joseph Parks should have been a regular fixture on TV. Dude is a great character actor and played off of AJ very well.

[KingPooper]

Always found him bland as hell as face. I think that’s a big part of it.