As I stated in my position stating post, I feel that AJ Styles would
not benefit from a heel turn. This was not a tough decision for me at all, and now I will tell you why.
As a general rule of thumb, most professional wrestlers have a tendency, a persona for which they are more naturally suited. Some guys are meant to be a face and need to stay there throughout their careers. Guys like Rey Mysterio or Jeff Hardy, to state just two, have a style, a look, and a character which is naturally suited to remain as a face. Other guys are quite the opposite: Jeff Jarrett or Jack Swagger, for example, who are naturally suited to be heels. And then of course there are the select few who can play either side of the fence equally well. Guys like Triple H, Chris Jericho, or Bret Hart who can be equally effective as a heel or as a face, which is a unique talent that few guys possess. In my opinion, for several reasons, AJ Styles falls into the former category: a guy who is naturally suited to wrestle as a face for his entire professional career, a guy who needs to remain in that context to be effective.
Just look at Styles. He has the stereotypical look of a baby face. The clean cut, all-American boy whose entire appearance and demeanor just exudes baby face. He looks like the guy next door, the guy you hope your daughter brings home to meet the family. Granted there have been heels who resemble this look, this does not in any way guarantee a face status. However, it does lend to a natural position as a company baby face.
Combine this with his wrestling style. He competes in a high flying, technical style which is hard for the fans to not get behind and cheer. Heels tend to compete in a style that is cheap, physical, aggressive, and slower pace. Cheap shots, low blows, and a more grounded style of action. When you get a guy who has been widely considered to be one of the most technically gifted and highly skilled in the professional wrestling business, a guy who wows the crowd with his technical skill and high octane style, it's hard for the fans to boo him. The fans enjoy his work and his style so much that they cannot help but cheer for him, which naturally progresses into a face character.
Combine all of this with his absolute lack of mic skills and personality, and again, we see a guy who will always struggle as a heel but can continue to prosper as a face. A heel has to be able to handle the microphone extremely well to be able to function effectively in the heel role. The heel has to be able to get on the stick and entice the crowd to boo him. He has to be able to generate heat not only by what he does, but what he says. Unfortunately, most times when Styles is holding the mic in his hands, it reminds me of nails grinding on a chalkboard, difficult and somewhat painful to listen to. If he is not able to verbalize as a heel, he will not be effective in that role. The same is not necessarily true of a face. Granted, it is helpful if a face can speak well too and have natural charisma, but it is not as essential as it is for a heel. A face can get over on ability alone, whereas a heel has to be able to augment that with his mic skills. Styles is unable to do that. Even when he has had a mouthpiece, he has not thrived in the role.
Bottom line in the above paragraphs? AJ Styles does not look like a heel. His style of wrestling and his lack of prowess on the microphone are not conducive to a heel status. The fans do not want him to be a heel, they want him to be the baby face, the face of TNA Wrestling, or at least one of them.
They have tried to turn Styles heel a few times in the past, and in my opinion, it had always resulted in failure. The simple fact of the matter is, he is naturally suited to be a baby face, whereas his attempts to function as a heel have come across as forced, unnatural, and ultimately ineffective and unsuccessful. The most recent example of this is when he aligned himself with Ric Flair at Genesis in 2010 to turn full heel. In my opinion, this heel turn was a total failure. He may have learned some things from being affiliated with Ric Flair, but in the end, even with one of the best heels in the business in his corner as his mouthpiece and mentor, Styles as a heel simply did not work. It was forced and contrived and ultimately fell flat. When they eventually turned him face again, the fans loved it, because that was where they wanted him to be in the first place. The fans did not want this:
The AJ Styles that they want, the baby face guy who should be the face of the organization, this is the guy they want:
If you dig back further into his history, TNA has dabbled with Styles as a heel, but the results of these attempts were equally unremarkable and ineffective. TNA, for some reason, loves the random face/heel turn, the shock value which has been, up until lately, a Russo-esque feature of the company. But these random turns don't work in the vast majority of instances. There is no need to try to force a heel turn upon someone when they are not well suited to it, appear to be uncomfortable with it, and when there is a history of lackluster results.
In conclusion, I do not feel that AJ Styles would benefit from a heel turn. He is a natural face based upon his appearance, his style of action, and if history is any judge, the fans prefer a face Styles over a heel rendition of him. AJ Styles has undergone heel shifts in the past, and they have failed, even when under the guidance of the dirtiest player in the game. You cannot force a heel turn upon someone who is not suited for it and who doesn't appear, at least on the surface, to want it. For a heel to be effective, it has to be natural, unforced, and accompanied with the ability to sustain it on the mic. Styles is lacking in all accounts. In my opinion, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. TNA should push AJ Styles heavily as one of the top baby faces of the company, rather than try to force feed the fans with an ineffective and unnatural version of him which will ultimately end in failure. So
no , AJ Styles would not benefit from a heel turn. Let The Phenomenal One do just that: be a phenomenal baby face, not a force fed heel.