AJ Styles Is The *NEW* WWE World Champion

[Jack-Hammer]

The title of the thread pretty much says it all. Just a few years ago, hell even earlier this year, many laughed at the notion of AJ Styles being WWE Champion and it's actually happened. Styles, with a little help from a low blow while the ref was recovering from a minor ref bump, scored the win over Ambrose with the Styles Clash. This will probably also be the main event for the No Mercy ppv in October as Ambrose has an automatic rematch.

Considering the role Styles has been on and scoring a major clean win over John Cena at SummerSlam, putting the title on Styles was probably the right move. Styles has a ton of momentum and, as with Miz, WWE is taking advantage of that momentum by keeping him looking strong.

I dunno how long it'll last, but AJ Styles can now say that he's been WWE Champion.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

AJ Styles steals the show again. Plus he helped Dean Ambrose shake off the image of him not being able to have a good match. I personally don't like Dean Ambrose matches but I give him full credit vs AJ Styles. Both men put on a great match and they really could have went another 15 minutes to make it MOTY.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I think this was another Dean Ambrose match where I wanted to see more, but at the same time I feel like that was the point, to make want to see more and we will definately get more in the coming months.

For Styles. Maan. One year ago nobody would have thought that AJ Styles would become the WWE Champion. Hell, when he debuted, we all thought that he was in for the Intercontinental Championship. It was only after the heel turn and the feud with Cena that we realised that AJ Styles could become the world champion in the comin months.

And he did. He's on top of the world right now, carrying Cena's badge and the WWE World Championship. Plus I think he's the first guy to win the world title in every major promotion he's been in.

This may sound like a stretch, but when Ric Flair called AJ Styles the modern Ric Flair back in 2010, he wasn't lying. Just look at all his accomplishments in the wrestling bussiness.

 

[Rayne]

In before the people who say it doesn't count because they didn't win the RAW title, who would be the same people who would say it wouldn't could because it was the Universal title.

Count me in that group who just a few years ago would have never predicted that AJ Styles would be WWE World Champion. As a heel, as a big draw for Smackdown (which the WWE is frantically trying to build the audience for), AJ Styles is positioned for a run through either the Rumble or Wrestlemania. The ending leaves the Ambrose feud open for at least another couple of Network shows (no sense in calling them PPVs anymore), and Ambrose doesn't need the title back.

Plus I think he's the first guy to win the world title in every major promotion he's been in.

AJ Styles becomes the first person to be WWE, TNA, and ROH World Champion, which is even more impressive considering he held the TNA title when they still had an audience.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I remember reading over at WZ that the original plan was for Smackdown to have the new title. However Reigns' suspension changed the plans. Apparently, the real plan was to have Roman and Rollins feud all the way to Summerslam for the WWE Championship and for Styles to fight John Cena for the new "Universal Championship" and probably beat him the same way he beat him at Summerslam.

However, with Reigns suspended, they couldn't continue the Rollins vs Reigns feud and threw Ambrose in the mix and decided to go with the Triple Threat.

I don't know which scenario was better for Styles, but if all that is true, then Roman Reigns created something like a butterfly effect, because due to his suspension, we got Styles winning THE title and Balor and Owens both ended up being world champions and Ambrose as the WWE Champion as well.

 

[L@RISANO]

I remember reading over at WZ that the original plan was for Smackdown to have the new title. However Reigns' suspension changed the plans. Apparently, the real plan was to have Roman and Rollins feud all the way to Summerslam for the WWE Championship and for Styles to fight John Cena for the new "Universal Championship" and probably beat him the same way he beat him at Summerslam.

However, with Reigns suspended, they couldn't continue the Rollins vs Reigns feud and threw Ambrose in the mix and decided to go with the Triple Threat.

I don't know which scenario was better for Styles, but if all that is true, then Roman Reigns created something like a butterfly effect, because due to his suspension, we got Styles winning THE title and Balor and Owens both ended up being world champions and Ambrose as the WWE Champion as well.

All Hail the Roman Empire. Roman Reigns is really "the Guy" after all.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

AJ Styles becomes the first person to be WWE, TNA, and ROH World Champion, which is even more impressive considering he held the TNA title when they still had an audience.

Plus, IWGP Heavyweight Champion, PWG World Champion and NWA World Champion (under TNA). That's one impressive resume.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

This is super awesome. I can't believe it. I never would've imagined AJ Styles in the WWE, let alone beating John Cena twice in the same year and then winning the WWE World Championship WITH the Styles Clash! Am I on planet earth? This kind of stuff just never happens. It's so cool seeing former ROH wrestlers and former indy circuit wrestlers winning major matches and titles in the WWE lately. I never would've thought I'd see Shinsuke Nakamura with the NXT title, Kevin Owens with the Universal title and AJ Styles with the World title under the same company. It's crazy. I hope AJ Styles has a long and successful reign. He's had a great first year. I was honestly beginning to think that he wouldn't be getting the victories that he has gotten so far ever since his feud with Roman Reigns. It just looked to me that he was headed towards Mid-Card territory for a minute. I'm glad that wasn't the case. I look forward to seeing many great matches ahead. His promos have been entertaining and hilarious. His run with the John Cena armband has been great. I'm so glad that he's WWE World Champion. That itself is historic for him since he has held so many great top titles. This is the type of unpredictable stuff that I want from the WWE. Good job.

 

[TNA cross the line]

Just look at my name and you can see how long it has been since I have posted on these forums. After AJ left TNA in late 2013 I slowly just stopped watching as all the originals jumped ship to WWE. I Started watching WWE again during the 2014 Daniel Bryan WrestleMania run and have been loving it more and more as time progressed and was so stoked when AJ signed and debuted at the Rumble. When the dirt sheets first announced Backlash would be in Richmond I knew I had to get tickets and tonight I totally got my moneys worth and then some! Being a TNA fan boy 2006-2013 and being able to see AJ win the WWE World title in Richmond while holding my TNA World Championship replica belt while totally marking out was beyond EPIC! I went to an In Your House PPV in Richmond back in 1997 headlined by champion (Face/Purple) Undertaker vs (an up and coming/Heel) Stone Cold Steve Austin. I have to say seeing AJ win tonight tops the main event from 97. Congrats AJ you deserve it!

 

[MoRtAnDaD]

Very very happy to see AJ getting the title.

Three important things came out of this match:

1- Ambrose can put on a great match with the proper rival, which is a relief.

2- AJ is one if not the best performer right now on the main roster (cant wait to see him against Nakamura).

3- WWE is not afraid anymore of giving titles to guys that were 100% built in other companies. (and im refering POST wcw/ecw).

 

[TellMeWhy]

AJ Styles becomes the first person to be WWE, TNA, and ROH World Champion, which is even more impressive considering he held the TNA title when they still had an audience.

AJ Styles was never a ROH World Champ. Just letting you know that btw! Congrats to AJ. Well Deserved!

 

[GOOZEKING]

It was a great match and aj 100% deserved it. I hope this changes Ambrose as well. Making him chase the title might make him interesting again. I would have on Tuesday aj start the show and insults the crowd for 10 min then Ambrose comes out and doesn't say anything. He walks right up to aj stares him straight in the eye and kicks him below the belt. Then he picks up the microphone and says "congratulations, I want my rematch" then drops the mic and walks away.

 

[Terry Gyimah]

AJ is in exclusive company winning a World Title in every promotion he's been in and the only men to do that are Styles, Hogan, Flair, Sting, Buddy Rogers, Angle, etc.

 

[Rayne]

AJ Styles was never a ROH World Champ. Just letting you know that btw! Congrats to AJ. Well Deserved!

You are correct- he was the Pure champion.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

This is great, AJ is on another level compared to everyone else on Smackdown's roster, so it was only fitting the the "face that runs the place" wins the world championship.

The thing that sucks is that AJ doesn't have much competition. Once his feud with Dean is over, were does he go? Personally I have always viewed AJ vs Orton as more of a dream match than Cena vs AJ, but with Orton losing to Lesnar and Wyatt(hopefully) I just don't see that match having the importance that it should.

Also the more success that AJ gets, the angrier I get that Samoa Joe is still stuck down in NXT!!!
I wouldn't care if he was only being used in the undercard against (local) jobbers. Joe should already be on the main roster, building up an undefeated streak!

(Another thing i'm interested in is what will wwe do with Dean after his feud with AJ? Does wwe see him as a main eventer or do wwe believe his world title reign was a bust?)

 

[Isaac Kaye]

That was a top quality PPV showing. Styles showing that he can back up all his bluster in the ring, albeit with the help of some classic heel tactics. I thought they worked well together - but AJ is such a good worker I can't remember the last time I saw him in a bad match. I thought they'd got the pacing off at one stage, and the crowd had gone a bit flat, but they sure moved up the gears towards the end.

Styles thoroughly deserves it. He's worked his socks off for years and improved as a result. Goes to show, if you're good enough, you'll make it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In before the people who say it doesn't count because they didn't win the RAW title, who would be the same people who would say it wouldn't could because it was the Universal title.

For me, the WWE Championship is THE definitive WWE World Championship no matter which brand it's on. The WWE Championship is the one with 50+ years of history behind it. It's an idiotic notion to assign more prestige to the Universal Championship, which has been in existence for all of 3 weeks, than the title that's been held by the likes of Sammartino, Morales, Backlund, Hogan, Savage, Warrior, Flair, Hart, Nash, HBK, Austin, Rock, Taker, Cena, Orton, Show, Edge, Punk, Bryan, Lesnar & Rollins over the last 53 years. I'm not belittling Owens or Balor for winning the Universal Championship, it's great to see talented wrestlers with World Championships in WWE, but a brand new title doesn't equal or exceed the sort of history of the WWE World Championship due to brand assignment.

 

[WorstWrestlingExcrement]

Good for him our TNA champion is being recognized a lot in wwe but I don't see A jobber Styles holding the title long before he loses it to Dean Ambrose or Seth Rollins. When do you ever see a former TNA wrestler win a title in wwe? Never it is either to get fan reaction or give Dean Ambrose a break a bit! Who knows maybe Styles can go for the universal title and beat Kevin Steen ( I won t mention owens here) and become the undisputed champion!

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

AJ Styles is the best wrestler on the WWE roster and is now the WWE Champion.

Seems about right.

As a guy that's been following AJ's entire career I could not have have been happier witnessing that moment. I watched the very first match AJ Styles ever had in TNA, followed his career in that company, saw him him ROH, followed him to Japan (not literally), and then eventually to WWE. The guy has been an NWA World Heavyweight Champion, TNA World Heavyweight Champion, IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and now a WWE Champion. And he deserved everyone single one of those accolades.

 

[ShinChan]

Good for him our TNA champion is being recognized a lot in wwe but I don't see A jobber Styles holding the title long before he loses it to Dean Ambrose or Seth Rollins. When do you ever see a former TNA wrestler win a title in wwe? Never it is either to get fan reaction or give Dean Ambrose a break a bit! Who knows maybe Styles can go for the universal title and beat Kevin Steen ( I won t mention owens here) and become the undisputed champion!

I don't get how he's still a jobber?

I am almost sure that he won't lose the title back to Ambrose of all people. Rollins is on Raw brand so he can't even face Styles.

We have multiple examples of a former TNA wrestler winning a title in WWE. We already had Samoa Joe as a NxT champion this year.

He can't go for the Universal Championship either as we can thank brand split for it.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Styles is red hot right now coming from clean win against Cena so it makes sense to get the title on him. Would be interesting to see where Ambrose goes next because somewhere down the line Cena will return and probably go for AJ Styles again. Not too much options for Ambrose unless he somehow gets involved to that.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

This was the safest decision and there's no one who can point a finger. AJ Styles is already one of their hottest acts and he's still so fresh, mainly because he only had one real feud as a heel against John Cena. He can still fight most of the roster and look fresh in the process. Just think of the possibilities: vs. Ambrose | vs. Randy Orton | vs. Kane | vs. John Cena | vs. Bray Wyatt or a debuting Samoa Joe.

I fully expect him to hold the title to at least the Royal Rumble PPV. If they really want he can go into WrestleMania still as their biggest act and a World Champion.

This could also be an interesting decision for Ambrose. His reign was lackluster and we can all agree that it wasn't really his fault. That means, going to the back of the line and have something fresh to work with that doesn't involve anything related to The Shield. I believe he would be best suited to have a rivalry against Baron Corbin and actually put him over before turning heel. That or be a "big" name for The Miz, who's actually been on a run lately.

At the end of the day though, Ambrose's gotta turn heel. His character needs that to get out of the stale pole. I fully expect him to be John Cena's opponent at WrestleMania.

 

[GOOZEKING]

I think everyone is being unfair toward Dean and blaming him for his terrible title reign. Let's compare how roman's title reign to dean's.
First title defense- Roman faced aj styles in an unpredictable match because of the looming bullet club.
- Dean faced dolph in a predictable title defense
Match length- Roman and aj had more than 20 min
- Dean and dolph had 10
Match quality - Roman and aj spammed finishers on each other where everyone proceeded to say best match.
- Dean and dolph had 9 minutes of technical wrestling and rest holds and then Dean hit 1 dirty deeds and match ended where everyone said boring.
How champ is presented- Roman is presented as the guy that people have to beat to make it in wwe
- Dean is presented as a joke UNTIL the last week of build where wwe creative finally allows him to be serious where he normally 9/10 times cuts an amazing promo.
This comparison shows how it's not dean's fault but wwe creative for ruining his reign.

 

[Terry Gyimah]

AJ is not only the best all around performer in the WWE he is the best wrestler in the WWE hands down he is much in that vain of a Shawn Michaels in terms of how he puts on 4/5 star matches with whoever he is in the ring with he makes them look good and not to mention he just steals the show every single time