Better Heel: AJ Styles Or Batista?

[Mitch Henessey]

Both AJ Styles and Batista used to be strong faces, but months ago, both men have made shocking heel turns, and are world champions. I think it's time we compare contrast both men as heels. I'll start with Batista.

At Bragging Rights 2009, Batista turned on his best friend Rey Mysterio after a fatal four way match for the World Heavyweight Championship. Batista said he was going to "rip" Rey's head off, and he gave him a brutal beating after the match. Batista would go on to feud with Rey for a little while, and then he would challenge The Undertaker for the WHC at TLC 2009. Batista lost the match in controversial fashion, and wasn't granted a re match. Now let's fast forward to recent events. Batista was hired by Vince McMahon to beat up Bret Hart. John Cena came out for the save, but Batista was also able to get the best of Cena. At the Elimination Chamber ppv Batista won his second WWE championship, after beating Cena who just competed in the Chamber match. He is set to defend his title against John Cena at Wrestlemania 26.

Now personally I don't like Batista, but I must say he has been impressive over these past couple months with his heel work. Batista has always been a sharp dresser since his days of Evolution, and he still is now. The difference is now Batista style has become more flashy. If you ask me, his wardrobe screams arrogance, and it does a good job of playing to his new persona.

Batista's heel psychology has also become entertaining. I loved how he kept going into the ropes a couple of weeks ago on Raw in the match with Cena. Then the low blow at the end, and his clapping afterwards was just classic. His entrance has also changed. He no longer comes out screaming, and there's no more loud pyro blasts....no. He comes out posing, and is very calm, and menacing.

Notable feuds: Rey Mysterio,The Undertaker,John Cena

AJ Styles made his shocking heel turn at Genesis 2010 with some help Ric Flair. He retained his world title, and Flair has become his mentor. AJ has taken on some of Flair's characteristics. He now wears suites, and flashy robes like Flair. AJ briefly feuded with Samoa Joe, and was able to retain his title in a match against him at Against All Odds. Styles next challenger is the #1 contender, Pope D'Angelo Dinero who already owns a pinfall victory over him. This match is et to take place at Lockdown.

Notable Feuds: Kurt Angle, The Pope, Samoa Joe, Hulk Hogan

AJ's heel turn was also shocking. Before his heel turn, AJ was the squeaky clean face who always did things the right way. Now he's aligned himself with Ric Flair who is a legend in the business, and "the dirtiest player in the game". I don't think AJ or anyone else for that matter will become the next Ric Flair, but he's getting a nice rub from Flair right now. Although, I think there's a chance the whole "next nature boy" stuff could hurt him because let's face it, those are expectations that nobody could probably live up to. Another thing I want to point out is, I don't think AJ is bad on the mic. Sure he can get annoying with his constant yelling during his promos sometimes, but I think he's pretty decent when it comes to his mic skills.

As far as the wrestling side of this argument goes, I don't think anybody will argue that AJ is the better wrestler. On the other hand, I don't think Batista is as bad as some people make him out to be. I think he's average, nothing more, nothing less. Now as far as the overall character goes, I think Batista's heel character is better. As I said earlier, the psychology of Batista's character is more entertaining because it makes you wonder what he's thinking, and he's able to get a good amount of heat from a live crowd. So my pick will have to be Batista.

So who's your pick for better heel? AJ Styles Or Batista?

Thoughts?

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Batista is by far the better heel. Styles is trying to be the next Flair with the robes and the promos but I just don't see it. He was fine on the mic before he hooked up with Flair and now he seems forced and it's not coming off well. Batista, on the other hand, is one of the few heels that can probably say two words and still be hated because of his actions. You have heels like Punk and Jericho who ramble on and on and then you have Batista who just beats people up plain and simple. I think it helps that Batista seems more natural as a heel than Styles does. I believe Styles could have been a fine heel on his own without Flair as he has shown in the past but right now Batista has him beat.

 

[psykohurricane]

Right now, Batista is a far superior heel compared to A.J. Styles. If you look at it from a wrestling stand point, sure A.J. is the better wrestler no question about. That'S what made him such a believable Face was the fact that he didn'T need a gimmick to get over.

Now he's a heel and he it just doesn't fit. He's trying to hard to be another Ric Flair clone and he doesn'T need to be. Nobody is buying it, not the fans in the IMPACT Zone, not the die hard wrestling fan and i not even sure if A.J. Styles himself is buying it. His promos are awful, is ring entrance is awful and in the end, it show were A.J.'s weaknest is and made him look like just another Mid-Card guys holding a world title that he doesn'T deserve.


On the other side of the coin, you got Batista. Here a guy who was a face for a long time but was very limited in the ring. The guys was one of the top babyface in the company but the more the years past the more the guy was languishing and was starting to lose some of his popularity. Then something happened, he turn Heel and ever since he turned Heel, the guys as been the best thing going on Smackdown outside of C.M. Punk. Just look at his current program with John Cena, everything he says is pure gold and make John Cena look good in the process. Batista is so confortable in this role that i don'T understand why he didn't turn heel years ago.

Comparing A.J. to Batista is really unfair to A.J. because A.J. isn't born to be a heel and his current heel turn seem forced and un-natural while Batista turns was the perfect thing for him. Batista has always been better as a heel and that's why i think Batista his the better heel right now.

 

[Shocky]

AJ Styles is a weak heel in comparison to Batista. It's sickening to see what TNA has done with AJ Styles the last 2 months, turning him from a legit enjoyable wrestler to a monumental douchebag, essentially playing the role of Charles Robinson from Ten years ago. The Old Slick Ric Nature boy Schtick was lame years ago, and for TNA to think that Little Naitch is the way to go with Styles, it's mind numbing. Plus, Styles offense is built around nice looking spots. It's almost impossible for this guy to be taking seriously as heel. He screams baby face, and that's a credit to styles ability in the ring, and ability to sell.

Batista was a terrible and bland face. His offense was so bad, and his selling worse. He is built to be a monster heel. Batista has been more interesting the last 5 months then the previous 5 years of his so so career. His look, his attitude, everything screams monster heel, and yes he is a better heel then the Phenomenal One.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Batista is the better heel. Hands down. Over the course of the past five or six months, Batista has become more interesting than he has at any other time in his career. Up until this time period, Batista was a bland, one dimensional face with a great look about him and not really much of anything else. He was average in the ring at best and quite below average on the mic. When he turned heel, he originally adopted this silent, brutish, angry and bitter thug that worked quite well for him because the guy can be intimidating as shit. A guy his size and strength with a bad attitude is just naturally someone that most people would be intimidated by and he did it quite well. Now, he's incorporated more mic work into his heel persona and gave the first great promo of his career last Monday on Raw. I buy into Batista the way he is right now. It doesn't feel the least bit stretched or strained and he seems quite comfortable with the role he's played. He's still average at best in the ring, but at least the man has some personality now.

AJ Styles is a weak heel and that's the way I've seen him whenever he's tried to be heel. A few years ago, while he was part of the Christian Coalition, Styles was little more than a comedy heel running around in a cheap Jerry Lawler fake crown. Substitute Flair for Tomko and put Styles in a suit instead of a crown and you've got something similar to what he was doing a few years ago. Styles is a great in-ring wrestler, but he doesn't have the ability to try and act like Ric Flair has. Part of what we see from Flair on the screen all these years is part of who he actually is. What Styles is doing now isn't part of who he is and it shows no matter how many bimbos he comes to the ring with. He isn't convincing in the role he's playing right now and he has tried to make it work, I will hand him that. Now, that's not to say that every character has to be drawn from one's own personality necessarily. However, for Styles to essentially try and behave much like Ric Flair has done, since it just isn't part of who he is, he'd need to be a much better actor than he actually is to pull it off.

So, for me, Batista is easily the better heel.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Batista is the better heel because his recent heel turn has breathed new life into his character, which had been growing stale and boring as a face. Batista also changed his entrance (quite fitting for a heel champion!) and has been wearing some rather interesting outfits lately. Plus there is also the epic potential for his Wrestlemania feud with Cena.

Styles on the other hand.... his heel turn has been bad. He went from being the face of TNA to.... a clone of Flair.... He's doing Flair-style promos, wearing the suits, coming out with lots of attractive women (ok, so maybe that part doesn't bug me all too much ), and thursday they even had him come out in a Flair robe. What's next, change his entrance theme to Flair's? Change his name to AJ Flair? Styles' heel turn did the opposite to him of what Batista's did for him.

This is no contest. Batista's the better heel because he's much better off as a heel, whereas Styles was better off as the face of TNA instead of being a Flair clone.

 

[Tastycles]

If I wanted to watch Ric Flair in the 80s, I'd watch Ric Flair in the 80s. AJ is so obiously a wholesome face its untrue. Its not that he is a bad heel, its just that comparitively you are taking one of the easiest people to get behind in wrestling and making him understudy to a guy who is so old that people cheer for him by and large too. The Abyss into Hulk Hogan thing, I don't mind, because Abyss has been a shit "monster" for ages, but AJ was still popular and in the form of his life and now every vestige of individuality is being sucked out of him. For a guy with two of the best finishers in wrestling to be winning matches with a figure four is fucking unbelievable.

Batista on the other hand has gone from a shit, I'm here to do the bare minimum and nothing else kind of guy, to someone that is easy to hate. His feud with Mysterio was well executed, but the one with Cena is seemingly his best work ever. Batista turned face because people hated Triple H, he stayed face for unknown reasons. Now he's a heel again, and he's a natural heel, and I think he's much better suited to the role than AJ.

 

[Mantaur Rodeo Clown]

Batista and it's no contest. Holy Shit Batista has been on a roll lately. His segments and promos on RAw these past few weeks have been the best damn thing going. The whole beatdown of Cena was just pure gold, from the false applause to the chair beatdown. And then his promo against Cena, where he listed all their accomplishments, and put in elements of jealousy, twas excellent. Batista was built to be a heel, and a guy with that sort of physique can play the bully so well. His whole attitude, moveset and look are geared towards being an intimidating beast, and he plays it to a T, which almost makes me regret the last 5 years he spent as a face.

AJ Styles is built the opposite. He just comes off as a nice guy, the sort that says mean things then apologizes for them once the cameras stop rolling. His moveset is exciting and flippy and it gets the crowd cheering, the exact opposite of what they're trying to make him. Trying to make him in Flair 2.0 isn't inventive or effective at all, and its a real shame. If they were so keen on making him heel, they should let him have a little more free reign, and thus make it more believable, rather than trying to fit the square peg in the round hole.

Maybe thats why Batista is so effective. Everything he says has a twinge of truth to it. I'm sure he IS jealous that Cena was made the face of the company, even though he was the big deal at WM21. The real Batista could actually come off as a mean bully. The real Batista is believable when he says he wants to hurt people. I just don't feel that with AJ.

 

[chainz]

This is a pretty interesting thread looking at possibly the two biggest heels in each company. However, hands down no question about it Batista is a better heel than A.J Styles. At least Batista can cut his own promos and get over more as a heel than A.J with Ric Flair holding his hand the whole way.

 

[KevinNashFTW]

Batista, it's not right to see the holy family man Styles awkwardly kissing women, and that stupid Flair voice he puts on could be the most annoying thing in wrestling, Batista has become much more enttertaining since his heel turn

 

[gd]

Obviously it's Batista. He has fit into the heel role, one which he probably should've adopted awhile ago, personally. How could you not fell hate towards this guy when he's walking out in a leather jacket while surronding by security and calling your favorite superstar a fat chick lover? He's just been incredible, both in the ring and on the mic. By watching him for a few seconds you instantly recognize he's a dick.

AJ isn't that bad of a heel himself, he's just not that great. Sure, the crowd boos him and he does heelish stuff, but it doesn't look like it comes natural to him. There's something about the whole thing that's just off. It appears that he really has to try hard to make his character work, and it shows. As a wrestler, you shouldn't have to think about getting into character, you should simply be the character. Hopefully he'll be a face sometime in the near future.

 

[Avrusha92]

Batista, no doubt about it is a way better heel. He has the look of a heel, A.J's heel stuff really doesnt mean much to me, his obnoxious screaming is really annoying, and him trying to be Ric Flair sucks.
Batista's heel turn was shocking and it is something fresh, he dresses amazing he looks plain BAD ASS!
Batista needed that HEEL turn to freshen up his character and does much better as heel than face...and btw i am not a heel lover like the most of IWC i just appreciate their work, and their promos.
Heels put on the best promos than faces imo, and imo Batista does this way better than Styles. I dont know why Styles needed a heel turn he was doing way better as face.

 

[WWE Manster03]

It's Batista in a landslide. As has been said many times so far, it is the best he has been in years. The face role for him just doesn't work because he has the look of a complete badass. Same reason Matt Hardy doesn't work as a heel. He doesn't look like the type that can be a dick/badass/douche/whatever term you want to use. He looks like the guy you want to root for. CM Punk is the only one that has turned heel that I never though would work and has proved me wrong. I figured the straight edge thing would be what drew people to him, but he uses that to his advantage.."Straight Edge means I'm better than you" has classic heel catchphrase written all over it. So yes Batista>AJ, but CM Punk>Batista...

 

[Henry Hill]

It depends on the era of each man's career in my opinion. Batista as a heel in Evolution was dull. He is naturally unlikeable, but he didn't have much personality at first. He was just this big angry guy. Comparatively when A.J. was playing the little buddy type heel in the Angle Alliance in TNA it didn't seem forced, and in my opinion worked a little better because of A.J.'s size and how well he was able to make it seem like even though he was a great athlete he was still kind of a "space cadet." At this point, however, Batista is clearly the better of the two. A.J.'s Flair impersonation is a huge stretch. Why would Flair see A.J. as the next Flair? Why would A.J. have to change his personality so much? How can you so easily go from the face of the company with all the integrity after the Sting BFG send off to a cowardly heel? It makes no sense. Batista on the other hand has the perfect psychology for why he's behaved as a heel lately. Feeling that Rey Mysterio was constantly stabbing him in the back, being paranoid, being upset that John Cena has been the focal point of the WWE, when Batista feels that the limelight should've been on him. The psychology is better, which makes the execution better.

 

[ExPeRiEnCe KhAoS]

Batista, hands down. AJ has just become another TNA knock-off, and pretty soon, he'll be just like Jay Lethal, trying to be something he's not. Russo is an idiot, he doesn't understand that a character can not be copied, especially when it's an iconic character. AJ has always had an amazing character, but now they've turned him into something that could send his career far, far down. It's terrible. Like Nash said, AJ was always the family man, the man who quit and got cameras into his house in Georgia, the man who always stood up for what was right, it's just another mix-up of TNA and Russo. It was too sudden, it had no build up towards the character, just Flair showing up and taking AJ as his prodigy.

Now, on the other hand, Batista heel has been great. What I expected was the Evolution-type heel, but it's been completely different. His mic skills have improved, and he's been owning Cena. He's been making a great build-up to Wrestlemania, and some of his segments have been great, and I personally loved the security segment. Also, WWE has been putting him over majorly, and I don't think this is just a Cena feud heel, he could be the next monster heel. Batista= Good Buildup Heel, just please, PLEASE, WWE, don't mess it up.

 

[DirtyJosé]

No contest: Batista.

No disrespect to AJ, either. His current heel gimmick is just too early to be compared to Batista's, which has been developed longer. One look at Batista on any show right now, and you go "now, there's an asshole!". Even his pink collared shirts scream douchebag. He nails his delivery and his promos with the gimmick. Again, not to say AJ sucks, but he hasn't been in his current gimmick long enough, and it's yet to develop as something worth booing/hating/paying to see on PPV.

Ask me again in a few months, and AJ might have fleshed out the gimmick enough to win this by then.

 

[TheOmega]

Honestly, I think that either of them can pull of a very good heel gimmick. When he was a face, Styles could get the crowd so pumped up, which I think would be good for TNA right now. Batista has really never been exceptional on the mic anyways, at least to me, but he was much better as a face also. If you want to look back at when Batista was in Evolution, he was a better heel because he barely talked at all.

I'm going to have to say Batista, simply because he just looks like an egotistical douche bag. Simply his presence and the way he dresses makes him a better heel than A.J Styles, who is currently sporting a Ric Flair ripoff gimmick. Given that Flair is his manager, it's still pretty stupid.

 

[Notorious718]

Batista is the better heel, no doubt. Him as a heel just seems to come naturally to him whereas AJ as a heels seems to be forced and not natural. Batista can genuinely get a crowd to dislike him and he comes off sounding better on the mic than he does as a face. As a face, he's just like AJ as a heel. It comes off looking forced and not natural.

I never liked AJ as a heel. From the time is was part of the Angle Alliance to now, I always thought he was better as a face. Even after his heel turn, I got the vibe that the crowd in the Impact Zone still loved him and were still cheering him. While I've never been a big fan of his mic skills regardless of his face/heel alignment, I feel that he is A LOT more annoying on the mic as a heel. He comes off sounding like an angry redneck with his accent (which I don't have a problem with, btw) especially when he shouts. His heel promos tend to get more on my nerves than his face promos do.

I've enjoyed Batista's heel promos. I've already said it enough times but I'll say it again, he seems more comfortable on the mic as a heel and everything just comes out naturally. I loved his promo on Raw with Cena when he came out with security and told Cena that he knew he couldn't beat him. It was pure gold and one of the best promos I've ever seen out of Batista.

Also, I believe Batista has a moveset that suits a heel more than AJ's does. AJ's typical moveset is high flying and flashy. Basically a moveset that would typically get pops from the crowd and not heel heat. Batista's high impact power moves just seem to fit a heel role more, IMO. But to answer the question, I feel that overall Batista is a better heel than AJ. Just my opinion.

 

[Tha Wolfpac]

No doubt Batista is doing a way better job than AJ Styles at portraying the heel persona, Aj Styles lil naitch act seems way to forced an unnatural while Batista seems like he eased into his newfound attitude and character naturally and comfortably. iMPACT monday night when Aj came out in that robe did it for me he looked so uncomfortable while Batista's promo on RAW a couple of weeks ago when he brought out security for John Cena was pure gold that won me over and legitimised Batista as an awesome heel.

 

[maar130]

I think everyone has say it, while AJ is a better wrestler as a Heel Batista is way better, hands down. The man is a sick and twisted, so good that he even make a great champion, The way he has treated Cena has been flawless, even if he lose at Mania the character he portaits fits him to the fullest.

AJ on the other hand is good but with this thing with Ric even though he is not bad he just seems to go through the motions.

Batista leads his portrait and now he seems so full of life that is scary, in a good way of course.