AJ Styles Is The *NEW* WWE Champion

[Dagger Dias]

So happy for multiple reasons.

Firstly, this saves us from the horrible Brock VS Jinder match at Survivor Series. If you're doing brand supremacy matches featuring the champions of each tier facing each other, then you NEED to have World Champions that are on par. Or at least close to that. Granted AJ does not have the odds in his favor, but he certainly makes more sense to be presented as the (kayfabe) best there is on the blue brand, no matter how "invincible" they want Brock to come across. Jinder had ZERO believability going into a match like that. Thank goodness we no longer have to worry about that.

Secondly, AJ deserved it. He was willing to go help Raw out when the illnesses forced last minute changes to TLC. His loyalty and willingness to help out when he was needed paid off. That's without even starting on how talented he is. Jinder, on the other hand, is unbelievably boring and was an absolute joke as World Heavyweight Champion. The experiment was a failure. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are setting Jinder up to be a "hero" in his home crowd at the India show, defeating AJ an american to win the title back in India. Oh well. I'm going to look at the positives. AJ VS Brock is infinitely better than Jinder VS Brock.

[Da Prophet]

Jinder is so getting the title back after Survivor Series. WWE has two Smackdown events to work with before they leave for India. Either Jinder wins the title on one of those events or they have him win the belt in India.

The experiment is far from over. Don't kid yourself.

WWE has put far too much time and money into this thing for them to back out a month before they leave for India. That's a horrible business move. Jinder will be WWE Champion again by the end of the India tour. No doubt.

[Jack-Hammer]

Originally Posted by Da Prophet

Jinder is so getting the title back after Survivor Series. WWE has two Smackdown events to work with before they leave for India. Either Jinder wins the title on one of those events or they have him win the belt in India.

The experiment is far from over. Don't kid yourself.

WWE has put far too much time and money into this thing for them to back out a month before they leave for India. That's a horrible business move. Jinder will be WWE Champion again by the end of the India tour. No doubt.

While I personally think the experiment should be over, I don't believe it is either. Unfortunately, I see Jinder winning the title back on the Indian tour, successfully holding onto the title via Styles rematch at the Royal Rumble and then dropping the title at WrestleMania to John Cena so Cena can have his 17th official World Championship run.

Of course, that might all depend upon whether or not officials are pleased with the numbers they generate from not only the tour but in viewership for SmackDown Live and WWE Network subscriptions from India. If the interest isn't there, which I'm guessing that they'll have an idea if they've based all of this on projecting the sort of numbers based on what he's helped deliver thus far, which is something that probably won't be released until the company's next quarterly report, then all bets might be off.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

It's about time. Jinder is awful and should have never won the title in the first place. He's awful in the ring and on the mic. He hasn't been a draw. He has a bad look. He simply has no talent or good qualities. I wouldn't mind if he was released and completely forgotten about like CM Punk.

Regardless, they couldn't have picked a better wrestler to take the title off of him. Styles is maybe the best wrestler in WWE right now, and it's no coincidence some of the best WWE television of the last several years happened when he was at the top of the brand. I'm not saying that will happen again as Ambrose, Miz, Cena, and Wyatt all played a big part as well, but the overall quality should go up. Also congrats to WWE as they have booked Styles almost perfectly. He has became the star we all hoped he would become and still has a bright future ahead of him.

The match with Lesnar definitely has potential, but Lesnar has to try. If the match lasts five minutes and he does nothing but suplexes and the occasional F5, then it's gonna be disappointing just like the match with Strowman. So hopefully it's competitive and Lesnar actually gives some effort.

Unfortunately Jinder might win the title back, but let's hope WWE is smarter than that. Then again they're probably not. I'll try to enjoy Styles' run while I can.

[Weeblebaybay]

This is going to be a really short run for AJ! Jinder will win it back the smackdown after survivor series. I can see them making it as AJ being weak from Brock. Then Jinder drops it to Cena at rumble

[yourdamnluck]

The thing is, AJ is just a vessel to get some heat for Brock after he sends AJ to suplex city. This might help Roman get some cheers at mania when he meets Brock.
AJ seems to be just a transitional champ who's gonna get Roman over in the long run.

Jinder, because of his lack of talent and awkward as hell moveset, is the first true heel in many years and if Vince heard the pop AJ got after beating Jinder, he'll make wrestlemania 34 mostly about Cena beating Jinder for his 17th title run. Which means AJ should drop the title soon. Sadly it also means AJ will be squashed, destroyed, dominated and completely digraced to make Brock look like the beast he's supposed to be.

[Jack-Hammer]

Originally Posted by yourdamnluck

The thing is, AJ is just a vessel to get some heat for Brock after he sends AJ to suplex city. This might help Roman get some cheers at mania when he meets Brock.

I doubt fans are going to boo Lesnar just for beating Styles. For instance, when Lesnar begins hitting his plethora of German suplexes, fans are going to start cheering and counting just like they always do. Modern fans don't give a damn about the heel/face dynamic to the extent fans did even 10 years ago, they just cheer and boo for who they want to regardless of whether or not it makes any sense. Rather than the "good vs bad" aspect, what tends to draw more cheers or boos is whether or not a wrestler is someone that's more of a WWE type of guy or if it's someone who spent a decade or so on the indie scene. These days, what draws heel heat, I mean genuine dislike and ire from the audience, isn't so much the wrestler as it is the promoter and creative team; if they had Lesnar squash Styles like a bug, fans would be booing sure, but they'd be booing Vince rather than Lesnar. Just look at what happened with the Balor vs. Kane match on Raw weeks back; Balor got squashed, fans weren't happy about it and we turned our ire towards Vince McMahon instead of the villainous Kane.

Originally Posted by yourdamnluck

AJ seems to be just a transitional champ who's gonna get Roman over in the long run.

Reigns is as over, as far as face reactions, as he's gonna get and if Vince hasn't figured that out by now, then he truly is a doddering old fool that's completely out of touch. Reigns is the chosen one, fans know it and a lot of them aren't going to cheer for it because of what I alluded to earlier: Reigns is a product of the WWE machine. Barring any sort of major catastrophe regarding Reigns, fans know, and have known since just after WrestleMania, that the plan is for him to beat Lesnar at WrestleMania.

Nobody really expects Styles to go over Lesnar, people are just hoping that he isn't booked to look like some scrub. Fans will settle for a competitive match, otherwise it'll just be Balor vs. Kane all over again and will probably do more to hinder rather than help Lesnar's next match which, if reports are accurate, may be against Balor at the Royal Rumble. There's not a whole ton of excitement about that match right now because after what happened with Kane, there's fear that Lesnar will demolish Balor in a few minutes with little to no trouble at all.

Originally Posted by yourdamnluck

Jinder, because of his lack of talent and awkward as hell moveset, is the first true heel in many years and if Vince heard the pop AJ got after beating Jinder, he'll make wrestlemania 34 mostly about Cena beating Jinder for his 17th title run. Which means AJ should drop the title soon. Sadly it also means AJ will be squashed, destroyed, dominated and completely digraced to make Brock look like the beast he's supposed to be.

Cena's not going to get that sort of big babyface pop either because Cena is the original Roman Reigns. Cena spent roughly a decade being protected and built up to such a degree that it was actually detrimental to much of the rest of the roster. It got to the point where excitement for Cena matches was lukewarm because fans knew how they would end: Cena overcomes all odds, even if the bad guy cheats to an absurd degree that involves ref bumps, outside interference, foreign objects, etc. and triumphs. A lot of fans, myself included, eventually got to the point where we mostly either just sniggered or rolled our eyes whenever Cena's next challenger would come along because we knew what was what. For me, it wasn't that I had anything against guys like Edge or Orton, it's just that I knew that it'd always be John Cena who came out on top when it was all said and done every single time. Well, almost every single time as Cena's feud with Lesnar is pretty much the only program in which Cena ultimately didn't come out on top. As with Brock Lesnar, fans already know that Jinder Mahal isn't on Cena's level and if they weren't excited to see Lesnar take on Jinder, they're certainly not gonna be interested in seeing him face off against Cena just so Cena can become champ for the 17th time.

Now they may very well go with Cena vs. Jinder, it's entirely possible, but I'm just saying that it's not going to get the sort of response Vince might be hoping for. Then again, maybe Vince isn't all that concerned about that as, if things go down the way they're looking at just this moment, WrestleMania next year will be a show devoted to part timers anyhow. For instance, we'll have Reigns taking on Lesnar and we'll have a Cena match, whether it's against Jinder or not. We'll also most likely have a match with Triple H, we'll probably have a Shane McMahon match, we may have a Kurt Angle match, a slim chance of an Undertaker match and possibly some sort of match featuring Ronda Rousey and the rest of MMA's Four Horsewomen. So, there's 6, possibly 7, matches right there and that's pretty much half the card, plus any other potentially viable part timer/former star who can move around in the ring smoothly enough so that we can't hear his joints creaking Vince can scrounge up.

[Navi]

Well if Jinder is going to win back that title he'd better do it and be quick about it. The dirt sheets are reporting that RAW is the brand that will be touring India, SD is staying home. So far Jinder and the Singh brothers are the only SD roster members that are listed for the tour.

Also read that the title was taken off Jinder because Vince didn't think fans were that interested in a Mahal/Lesnar match. What do you know he was right about that one. Maybe Jinder isn't in line for another title run as he kind of bombed the last time. Couldn't really blame the WWE, he was given long enough and just didn't connect with the fans. The night Styles won viewership increased by almost 500k, so there are fans out there. Put the belt on the right person and they will watch.

Have no idea how that impacts the Rumble or Mania, but good news for some fans who weren't into Jinder.

[wrestlingmasters55]

I kinda feel that the fact that HHH is willing to put JInder over during the India tour means that he's probably regaining the title before the end of the year. I wouldn't be surprise if they add an styles to the tour and have him lose the title on the second day of the tour after JInder beats HHH on day one. If he doesn't lose it during the tour, it's going to be at clash of champion because A.J. is one of those guy that can be a transitional champion and still be over.

[Jack-Hammer]

It looks as though there's no longer any fear in Jinder winning back the title from Styles within the next few weeks. According to a story at wrestlinginc.com, the Times of India is reporting that there'll now be only one WWE show in India next month, rather than 2, and that Triple H vs. Jinder Mahal is confirmed as the main event. This show, which takes place on December 8, has the following card advertised:

* Triple H vs. Jinder Mahal
* Jeet Rama & Kishan Rafter vs. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas
* The Shield vs. Samoa Joe and RAW Tag Team Champions The Bar
* Kane vs. Braun Strowman
* Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
* Sasha Banks vs. RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss
* Kalisto vs. WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore
* Elias vs. Jason Jordan
* Apollo Crews & Titus O'Neil vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

I dunno, it's looking more and more like the experiment with Jinder is finished and as to why they're only doing a single show now instead of two, my guess is that ticket sales for the 2nd show have been lackluster. If so, that'd be another little indicator that Jinder has failed to draw interest from the India fans, which is the entire reason he was made champion in the first place.