Is AJ Going to Win the Big One Again?

[the_vipers_enigma]

I'll start by saying that I'm not a big TNA fan, but I am a big AJ Styles fan. AJ, Kurt and Joe are maybe the only reasons that I watch TNA. With that said I will move on to my question is AJ going to win the World title again? I mean ever since he lost it to RVD he has been left out of the title picture by management(if you don't count the BFG series). And by the looks of it there are no views of him going back to the title scene. This is something that I can't understand and for me it isn't right I mean common the man helped build the company and is one of their biggest stars.

 

[das1234]

i would say yes, he still has it in him. although he has nothing to do with the main event right now, he still is "THE tna guy", so at the very least i guess they will give him a run before he retires.
of course i hope he will rise a bit in the card again and fight for the title again, but i guess that depends on who else is available.
if angle and hardy should leave, that would leave styles because he probably would be the last guy jumping ship.

 

[thebarber]

agreed, AJ is a female General Manager on Raw. AJ Styles has had his run, there is nothing for him to accomplish in TNA and WWE he would be mid card at best,

 

[EStreet]

No. He seems old lately, like he's just a vet. I felt his tag run with Angle didn't help as Kurt is in that spot now too.

I will say, Joe could be in line for a push given his visibility in the Punk DVD. But Aj seems like an afterthought and his character is stale. Not that h can't have great matches regularly. I'd like to see him back in the X division.

 

[wrestlingfan]

I doubt it, I've lost hope AJ is going to win the World Title again, It's going to take alot of buildup and character development on his part, to reach the levels he was in 09-010.

 

[HBsam31]

I would imagine he would get at least one more run at some point for time served. He seems to have faded into the mid card for some time now, and aside from a last run type deal i am not sure if he would get another title. I love AJ, and I liked his title runs, but something has seemed off to me. AJ has been with TNA for the long haul and will definitely be a HOFer, and I can see him getting one more title run as a last run.

 

[heathyheath]

I feel bad saying this but I genuinely don't think that AJ Styles is going to win the TNA world title ever again, unless it's, like HBsam31 said, one more run out of gratitude from TNA for his years of loyal service in TNA.

I genuinely believe that AJ is as good as he's ever been. He's got great character, he can still put on some of the best matches in wrestling today and unlike some I've got no clear issue with his work on the microphone. It's just that while AJ has remained the same certain people in TNA have got better and improved, and those people will be holding up the top spot for a long time to come. Right now you have so many other people far more likely to win the World Championship in TNA. You have Aries, James Storm, Bully Ray, Robert Roode and arguably Mr Anderson along with the reliable veterans in Kurt Angle and Sting and with all of the new and upcoming talent I really can't see a feasible way for AJ to get back into the title scene and leave it as world champion.

It's hard to say for definite though that he'll never be champion again because obviously we can't see into the future if that makes sense. I mean AJ could be set to turn heel and feud with Kurt Angle which would change the dimension of everything once again although heel AJ can be hit or miss, the impact zone crowd always love and adore him for all he's done for TNA and I'm not sure if he could make them hate him even with a heel turn.

 

[braveh]

Someone has to point out the obvious fact here. AJ Styles has not had the title since Eric Bischoff and Hogan took over.

Something tells me that AJ Styles was Jarret's and Vince Russo's golden child. Bischoff seem to believe in Roode/Storm/Aries. So I don't think it will happen.

 

[EStreet]

Someone has to point out the obvious fact here. AJ Styles has not had the title since Eric Bischoff and Hogan took over.

Something tells me that AJ Styles was Jarret's and Vince Russo's golden child. Bischoff seem to believe in Roode/Storm/Aries. So I don't think it will happen.

It's almost like Hogan/Bischoff looked at TNA and decided to make new stars. But AJ was already TNAs Cena and got looked over. He feels like Orton does stuck in good MidCard stuff but not where he should be.

 

[SpecialFNK]

I don't think you can say TNA in recent years hasn't tried to push AJ, but I don't think they did it right. unless it wasn't that much of a real push anyway. TNA had AJ heel with Ric Flair as his manager or whatever. but I don't think that fit AJ.
I never saw TNA before Hogan/Bischoff came in so I don't know what AJ was like before, but I think it's too bad AJ is stuck in the mid card. AJ should be up there with the likes of Roode and Storm.
it's unfortunate AJ got stuck in that ridiculous story line with Claire Lynch, that was awful.
personally I think AJ is better than Aries.

 

[UFOcalling]

AJ Styles is one of those guys like Jericho or Benoit was in WWE in the early/mid 2000s. By that, I mean he's able to jump back and forth from the the main event level to the midcard (in WWE lingo, it would be World Title picture to Intercontinental picture) pretty easily. The main problem (like braveh said) is that AJ hasn't gotten back to the main event scene since Hogan & Bischoff decided they wanted RVD to defeat him for the title (soon after their arrival in TNA).

When Hogan & Bischoff first arrived in TNA, I think they were willing to give AJ a shot. After all, he was the Champion when they first came and he was playing a babyface at that time. Although it was soon after Hogan & Bischoff's arrival that they paired AJ with Flair & turned him heel. It seemed their plan was to make AJ the new "Nature Boy", but AJ just wasn't suited for that. I suppose Eric & Hulk thought that AJ wasn't "big" enough to be Champ on his own, so they felt like they needed to insert Flair into AJ's title reign.

I think that when Eric & Hulk first arrived in TNA, they were like "AJ who?"...so they decided to try and make him more "marketable" (or whatever) by pairing him with Flair. Even though they didn't think AJ was a big enough star to be the TNA WHC at the time of their arrival, I hope they see things a little differently now that they've been with the company for a little while. During AJ's last title run, I remember there was a match on Impact between Angle (the challenger) and AJ (the Champion). This was when AJ was still a babyface; before he was paired with Flair. I think it's possible the match happened during TNA's brief run on Monday nights as well, but I can't remember for sure. AJ won the contest (obviously, since it was RVD that eventually beat him for the WHC), and after the match Hogan appeared on the entrance ramp and said something to the effect of "those two [Angle & Styles] are the best professional wrestlers in the business today" (or something like that). Hogan (and Eric too, probably) may have thought that AJ was one of the best wrestlers in the business, but he obviously didn't care much for his character and/or gimmick...since they tried to make him the next "Nature Boy" soon after that (that may have even happened at the very next PPV, I can't remember for sure).

Either way, AJ eventually went back to being AJ (the character he was before Hogan & Bischoff's TNA debut). I don't know if that happened because of his split with Flair, or if AJ just told management that he didn't want to play the "Nature Boy" character anymore, or why exactly he went back to his old gimmick. It could have also been that TNA creative realized that AJ wasn't cut out to be the new "Nature Boy" as well. AJ has bounced in & out of the main event scene ever since, but TNA creative doesn't seem to think of him as the main eventer he once was.

For most of 2012, AJ has been involved in the storyline with Kaz & Daniels (as far as I remember). Every time he got close to the main event level, Kaz and Daniels were there to make sure they screwed it up for him (cost him matches, etc). There was also the whole Maury Povich thing they did, where they were saying that AJ was the father of Clair Lynch's baby, etc.

Now that AJ's involvement with Kaz & Daniels is over, it looks like he's going to start yet another feud with Angle. Maybe TNA creative is thinking that if they put AJ in another high-octane feud with Angle, he'll be able to look like a main eventer again (at least in the their eyes). At least I'm hoping that's what they're doing with AJ right now, I think they've only kept him away from the main event scene lately because it had been so crowded (especially since they elevated Aries to the Main Event this year as well).

To answer your question (finally, after that ridiculous amount of crap above - lol), I think that AJ will have at least one more run with the TNA WHC. I'd bet that he will get the title at some point in 2013 (at least I hope he does), and maybe again in 2014/15. As someone pointed out earlier, AJ pretty much is "the" TNA guy (he's basically their Cena, except without the "superhero" gimmick) - and the company would be silly to not put their title on him again (especially sometime in the near future).

 

[rondiesel2005]

I'll start by saying that I'm not a big TNA fan, but I am a big AJ Styles fan. AJ, Kurt and Joe are maybe the only reasons that I watch TNA. With that said I will move on to my question is AJ going to win the World title again? I mean ever since he lost it to RVD he has been left out of the title picture by management(if you don't count the BFG series). And by the looks of it there are no views of him going back to the title scene. This is something that I can't understand and for me it isn't right I mean common the man helped build the company and is one of their biggest stars.

I think what happen was they tried to give AJ styles a little bit of a character which is why they paired him up with Ric Flair, I am assuming they wanted to improve his mic skills. The biggest mistake I think they did was try to make him the next Ric Flair and we saw how that went down. I think some of the fans were worried about that and from reading the reports, AJ Styles didn't like that idea of trying to be somebody else. I think Bischoff and Hogan knows the fans are behind AJ Styles, but they want to give him a little boost in his character.

TNA in the past has gave AJ Styles the ball and let him run with it to see how many more viewers he can bring to the table and he probably wasn't bringing the numbers they are were looking for. Before Jeff hardy went back to TNA in 2010, who was TNA's best selling merchandise at that time?? because we have to question if AJ Styles sells a tone of merchandise before Jeff Hardy came back to TNA in 2010.

I am not sure if they are going to give AJ Styles a title push anytime soon since they are trying to build new stars. It seems like every time the world title picture is crowded, they put AJ Styles in a program with Christopher Daniels. We know they both can put on a great match, but I think the fans are at the point where they are just tired of seeing them two wrestle over and over again which signals that they couldn't find anything for either of these guys. Now it looks like he might be getting into a program with Kurt Angle and we have to wait and see. He might we another title run in 2013, but we have to wait and see because I don't think they know what to do with him right now.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

As long as Hogan is in charge AJ will never win the big one again plain and simple. I think Hogan has a problem with him because AJ has openly bashed Hogan before and lets face it Hogan can be a very bitter man in his old age.

I really don't even find AJ all that entertaining anymore hes been the same old thing for over a year now and the only thing I want to see him do feud wise is feud with Aries, Other than that AJ has been boring for awhile besides his run with Fortune as heels.

 

[Lowdown]

AJ could win the big one again, but I don't see it happening anytime in the near future. With Hardy winning the belt again and the pushes of Roode, Storm, and Ray, guys like AJ and Samoa Joe have taken a slight back seat in the main event scene. Perhaps a good heel run could give him a push. Hell maybe have him join A&8's or something.

 

[Rayne]

First, and this is addressed to anyone here who thinks it applies, if you're going to use the idea that someone should get a title run just because they "deserve it", get that out of your head. A championship belt is a prop used to sell a wrestler. "Deserve" is something you get in a contract.

AJ Styles doesn't need to be a champion, which is good, because TNA doesn't need him as a champion. AJ Styles could be written into a credible role as a champion next month. He has the capability many great performers have had; the ability to move up and down the card without losing credibility. AJ Styles has the kind of credibility in TNA that would let him job for two months straight, then shoot into a title picture without raising eyebrows. So why does he need to be champion? What can he do better for TNA that Jeff Hardy or Austin Aries can't do?

His last run with the championship was a disaster. They gave him the best microphone worker alive, if not in history in Ric Flair, and he still couldn't get over. It was such a disaster they pulled the belt from him in an unpromoted match on Impact. But people here have this fool idea that the only two spots in a professional wrestling company are champion and trying-to-be-champion. There's a need for guys who can make shit wrestlers look great, and that's AJ Styles. I can remember only one shitty AJ Styles match, and for that we have to blame Frank Trigg.

AJ doesn't need the title, and TNA doesn't need AJ as their champion.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think that he'll probably get at least one more title run before it's all said and done in TNA. It won't make me upset to see Styles get the title but, at the same time, I don't think I'll be particularly excited either.

Like most people who watch TNA, I like AJ Styles. Inside the ring, he's one of the best in the world right now and I don't think that can be argued. But, at the same time, I don't see AJ Styles as being the guy to carry TNA. As far as personality goes, AJ is pretty low on the totem pole compared to most of the top guys right now like Roode, Storm, Aries & Bully Ray. AJ's lack of charisma and mic skills have always been his weakness. He's gotten better on the mic but he's still not really someone that can captivate you when it comes to cutting promos.

If Styles was going to be the "face" of TNA, I think it would've happened by now. He's someone that's done everything there is to do in TNA multiple times. In my personal opinion, I'd much rather see AJ Styles go back to the X Division. The X Division is what ultimately brought him to the dance in the first place and it needs all the help it can get. I get that it's a step down from being a main eventer but, let's face it, Styles is someone that's not been main eventing for quite some time. I'd rather see him back in the X Division helping to strengthen it rather than see him in long, dragged out feuds against guys that he's feuded with a hundred times before like Daniels or, probably next, Kurt Angle.

 

[mustafa33]

i love AJ but he has lost all of his steam ,the fans are well behind him i would love AJ back as the main even guy He should be the measuring stick of tna rising stars ,i would love to feud bw styles aries hardy and etc.I wanted Aj to face joey ryan instead of Alsnow. look now AJ vs matt morgan. he can put over guys.i want the aggerissive attitude back in him.he had great little feuds with storm and roode on bigger stae with more story and background these could have been gold.AJ put over bully ray with the table assault.AJ and even Kurt should be utilized more aswell to put over guys like morgan king mo aries.wheres crimson,he should become part of aces n eights.i loved Generation ME could have been utilized.EY is mis utilized n many more Daniels vs hardy is a feud we want Daniels as champ .atleast within months wud be great time for him

 

[Dagger Dias]

I really hope he does win the TNA World Championship again at some point. AJ is one of the best guys on the entire roster and has all the skills needed to be the top guy. His last world title run 3 years ago was really good. At this point he has accomplished pretty much anything he can in the federation, there's nothing else for him to do but return to the world title scene. Now that guys like Storm, Roode, and Aries are all main eventing too it would be great to see them in world title feuds with AJ if he holds the belt in the future.

It might not happen anytime soon, but I'm fairly certain he will hold the title again at some point. It's just a matter of when. He steals the show in the ring, has good promos, and the fans like him. There's really no reason not to give him another title run later down the line. Styles could always go for the Television or X Division Championship in the meantime since like others have pointed out he can successfully jump between the midcard and main event tiers without any problems, although I'd rather see him become TNA World Champion again instead. He deserves it.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

AJ Styles is one of those guys like Jericho or Benoit was in WWE in the early/mid 2000s. By that, I mean he's able to jump back and forth from the the main event level to the midcard (in WWE lingo, it would be World Title picture to Intercontinental picture) pretty easily. The main problem (like braveh said) is that AJ hasn't gotten back to the main event scene since Hogan & Bischoff decided they wanted RVD to defeat him for the title (soon after their arrival in TNA).

AJ was maineventing again for a short while when he feuded with Roode just after he got the title. Your Jericho comparison is perfect and I see AJ in much the same way.

I think AJ will definitely be world champ again at least once. Hopefully in some sort of program with Aries. I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when I say we all want to see that feud somewhere down the line.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

First, and this is addressed to anyone here who thinks it applies, if you're going to use the idea that someone should get a title run just because they "deserve it", get that out of your head. A championship belt is a prop used to sell a wrestler. "Deserve" is something you get in a contract.

AJ Styles doesn't need to be a champion, which is good, because TNA doesn't need him as a champion. AJ Styles could be written into a credible role as a champion next month. He has the capability many great performers have had; the ability to move up and down the card without losing credibility. AJ Styles has the kind of credibility in TNA that would let him job for two months straight, then shoot into a title picture without raising eyebrows. So why does he need to be champion? What can he do better for TNA that Jeff Hardy or Austin Aries can't do?

His last run with the championship was a disaster. They gave him the best microphone worker alive, if not in history in Ric Flair, and he still couldn't get over. It was such a disaster they pulled the belt from him in an unpromoted match on Impact. But people here have this fool idea that the only two spots in a professional wrestling company are champion and trying-to-be-champion. There's a need for guys who can make shit wrestlers look great, and that's AJ Styles. I can remember only one shitty AJ Styles match, and for that we have to blame Frank Trigg.

AJ doesn't need the title, and TNA doesn't need AJ as their champion.

Basically this.

My answer here is something along the lines of "As unfortunate as it may sound, I highly doubt it".

Styles is a tremendous competitor. He's a great in-ring performer. He's the type of guy who helps to build the gut of any PPV line-up, or any episode of IMPACT, but as a champion he simply doesn't translate. I'm not sure exactly what it is about him that people don't buy into, but like others he's someone you tend to support more in chase of the title, not when they've actually won it.

I'd actually say he's similar to Hardy in that respect.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

I think it all depends on if Jeff Hardy is still with TNA next year or not. When Hardy came into the company he quickly started selling more merchindise then anybody else and soon took Styles spot on the roster. If Hardy was to leave in January when his contract is due to expire, then I can see TNA bumping aj back up to the main event and giving him the title very quivkly.

 

[midgensa]

Outside of him jumping ship there is NO DOUBT AT ALL that AJ Styles will wear the TNA strap again in the future, probably within the next couple of years.

He is the staple at the top of the card in this company. As great as many of the others have been, he really is the face of TNA and he is the guy they can always turn to for a main event feud that will be believable and work.

AJ vs. Aries has to happen at some point and could be trully epic. AJ vs. Roode for a long feud would be nice as well. And AJ vs. Hardy could work great as well.

Hell ... AJ vs. anyone works because he is that good. And the company knows they can turn to him.

As long as he does not go for the green in WWE and get buried in the mid-card he likely has a few more World Championship reigns in his future.