So AJ Styles is a heel now?

[TWJC: The Beginning]

"heel" in what sense? This is 2016, probably half the matches get "let's go X, let's go Y" chants.

He's a babyface to his fans and a heel to Cena's fans. I don't think AJ will cheat if that's what you're asking.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

WORST timed heel turn in a long time. AJ is on the edge of getting seriously over with the WWE fans. And they book him to turn heel on Cena on Cena's first match back in WWE for 6 months. Cena HAS to go over; he is the number 1 merchandise seller/Fan favourite. So when WWE desperately needs a new top face to help with Smackdown/Raw both being live, they destroy the aura of a guy who is getting over big time on mere weeks before their next major business project?

I do wonder sometimes - I really do. They should have had Cena come back and call out Roman Reigns for a title shot at the next PPV, and then get him in a tag match on the Raw before where Cena pins Reigns clean, and then Cena beats Reigns by countout at the ppv. So many different ways to protect Cena without screwing AJ.

 

[ShinChan]

A hell of a match you say? lol they will feed him to cena and he will be known as A Jobber Style continously! He's gone from the title pic and then after he loses to cena he will fall down the ladder even more Styles should have stayed in TNA now he is a jobber like STING was

Sting was a jobber in WWE?

A jobber means a performer whose primary role is to lose to established talent.

Sting had total 4 matches in WWE. At Wrestlemania, he lost due to interference to Triple H. Sting should have won but he didn't lose the match clean either. Next, he fought Big Show and won via DQ caused by Seth Rollins. Next, he made Rollins (the then WWE World Heavyweight Championship) submit to his finisher. Then he fought Rollins for the title in which he lost via a roll-up and also suffered a career ending injury.

Where did Sting job?

AJ is not a jobber either. A jobber won't get to unleash a beatdown on the face of the company.

About AJ's heel turn, I was totally surprised by it. And that is a major aim of any heel/face turn, isn't it?

I am all in for a Styles/Cena feud. That's a dream match come true. The face of TNA Vs. The face of WWE. These two guys can give us great matches. And I hope that Styles also looks stronger in this feud.

But I would have surely preferred a face-face match for once atleast.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

I thought WWE was going somewhere by having Styles not wanting his friends' help, for 6 WEEKS STRAIGHT. And now all of a suuden they're back as a Club. I really hoped that there was some storyline in the making, something like Styles vs Balor planned for Summerslam, but i was wrong.

So Styles didn't want them to help him win the WORLD TITLE, but wants them to face John Cena? I guess AJ Styles is soooo smart, right WWE?

If it was a more natural and slow turn, I wouldn't mind, but no it just came out of nowhere. Reigns had showed more signs of turning heel.

 

[Dave]

This is crazy booking. Really unpredictable stuff. And whilst people are falling over themselves to praise the decision to turn AJ Styles heel and to attack John Cena, I am going to play Devil's Advocate for a minute and say that I didn't like it.

Here's why...

First of all, AJ has been presented as the best of us in his feud against Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho since his debut in the WWE. Chris Jericho is a far better heel than AJ Styles will ever be, for my money anyway. If AJ were a heel all along, it makes his feud with Jericho and Reigns totally redundant. Wrestling fans have a short memory. But that short? Christ! If AJ was with The Club all along, why not use them to win the fucking Championship only a few weeks ago? Are the WWE really telling us that AJ would rather have saved that turn for a moment against John Cena, rather than to win the WWE Championship? No thanks.

Secondly, this is going to lead to bad things for everyone involved. I knew that AJ was eventually going to go The Club because you really have to be a heel to get over as a dominating stable. But John Cena has been up against the odds before and he will always find a way to level the playing field. Remember when he was up against The Authority. Or remember when he went up against The Wyatts? Those were not great feuds. In fact, they dragged on and one until Cena had worn them down and eventually got the win at the biggest stage. This is the same treatment that AJ can look forward to down the line. This is wrestling 101 and although I realise why it will happen. I just can't stomach it.

Frankly, the spotlight that is going to shine on AJ and The Club for the next couple of months is going to dull eventually as Cena begins teaching them a lesson. I imagine that this one is going to go all the way to SummerSlam before we get a proper match between the two. And whilst it might be a decent match, there is only going to be one winner.

 

[Azane]

Easiest way to tell who's the heel and who's the face in WWE nowadays.

The Guy getting cheered who works hard and doesn't pander to the crowd is usually the heel.

The Guy getting booed who lays around and does 1 or 2 comeback spots in a 20 min match is probably the face.

Exceptions like KO or Sami Zayn, who get the correct reaction and work hard in their respective roles. but someone in a chat room I was in on Monday pretty much said this and I had to agree, "Why can't any of the people I genuinely like be a face?" There's exceptions, again, like Zayn and Enzo + Cass, but most of the faces are people that I'm just sick of, and it's not because they're face.

 

[d_henderson1810]

It was a sweet little gem of a swerve as nobody really saw it coming. I found myself hoping that Styles would waffle Cena in order to make things interesting, but I didn't really expect it. After all, Styles has been sorta the stand up, stand on my own two feet, nice guy while Pastor Cena was in the middle of the ring bringing the sermon about Memorial Day so I didn't think it'd happen but I was gratified when it did. My only problem was JBL's response afterward in which he chastised Styles for his actions due to him pissing all over Cena's patriotic gesture; if you're gonna be a fucking heel commentator, then be a heel commentator when something that's actually heelish, like this or Charlotte dumping her old man, takes place. Of course, I don't blame JBL as he's only Vince's parrot and I just wish Vince would strop trying to teach little morality lessons and let the heels be heels.

At any rate, now the big problem is simply this: Are they going to sacrifice AJ Styles upon the altar of John Cena? Generally speaking, Cena has only come out on the losing effort for about 2 programs in WWE over the past decade or so: against CM Punk back in 2011 and against Brock Lesnar. As a result, the odds of Styles coming out the "winner" of this program aren't very good at all. Truth be told, the odds of Styles coming out with a clean, decisive win without the help of Gallows & Anderson aren't all that good because of Vince's obsession with protecting John Cena to the detriment of everything else. It's obvious that these two will meet for the first time at Money in the Bank and, if so, I think Styles needs to score the win and score the win on his own. Have him cheat his ass off if they want, but let him score the win without interference from his boys Gallows & Anderson.

John Cena did the job, clean as a sheet, to Daniel Bryan at "Summerslam" two years ago (the post-match shenanigans had NOTHING to do with Cena), and Cena never got a rematch, so Bryan "won" the program against Cena as well.

Also, everyone who bitches about how few people that Cena or Reigns put over, seem to have no problem with the few people "Stone Cold" Steve Austin or Brock Lesnar (who the fans love) have ever lost clean to (in fact, SCSA even refused to job to Lesnar). Yet it is convieniently never brought up when people complain about Cena "buried" everyone.

At least, to my knowledge, Cena has never said to Vince that he refuses to job to someone, who just hasn't stopped Vince doing it for him. Yet, SCSA refused all the time to put people over (Brock, Jeff Jarrett, even the Rock until WM19), and walked out when he didn't get his own way.

Back to Styles, I think they have had him turn heel too soon. They should have dragged out the "Is Styles with the Club, or isn't he" for a lot longer, and teased over weeks, and kept us guessing. It would be an even bigger deal then.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Easiest way to tell who's the heel and who's the face in WWE nowadays.

The Guy getting cheered who works hard and doesn't pander to the crowd is usually the heel.

The Guy getting booed who lays around and does 1 or 2 comeback spots in a 20 min match is probably the face.

Exceptions like KO or Sami Zayn, who get the correct reaction and work hard in their respective roles. but someone in a chat room I was in on Monday pretty much said this and I had to agree, "Why can't any of the people I genuinely like be a face?" There's exceptions, again, like Zayn and Enzo + Cass, but most of the faces are people that I'm just sick of, and it's not because they're face.

Because fans REFUSE to cheer faces and CHOOSE to cheer heels.

No-one puts a gun to your head. You are allowed to cheer faces and boo heels, yet wrestling fans these days want to troll Vince, and think they know his job better than him. So the "God complex" of the fans takes over, and thinking that the customer is always right, can't admit that they like a face, because that means that Vince is right all along, and to the WWE Universe, Vince McMahon knows nothing.

The only reason you or others like Sami Zayn or Enzo & Cass are because they are from "the cool" NXT, which Vince doesn't run, so you are allowed to like it by your fellow IWC.

 

[L@RISANO]

I thought WWE was going somewhere by having Styles not wanting his friends' help, for 6 WEEKS STRAIGHT. And now all of a suuden they're back as a Club. I really hoped that there was some storyline in the making, something like Styles vs Balor planned for Summerslam, but i was wrong.

So Styles didn't want them to help him win the WORLD TITLE, but wants them to face John Cena? I guess AJ Styles is soooo smart, right WWE?

If it was a more natural and slow turn, I wouldn't mind, but no it just came out of nowhere. Reigns had showed more signs of turning heel.

I thought the story made perfect sense.


It was clear that AJ valued G&A's friendship but at the same time, he wanted to do things the way a good hero would.


Last week, he basically told G&A that he didn't need their help at all and that he could get to the top on his own...and he promptly lost cleanly to KO.


This week he completed the 'will he, won't he?' stuff by going full heel thereby clearly accepting that he can't get stuff done in the 'right way'.


Simple story, but WWE has done their job with AJ Styles brilliantly thus far. I just hope he goes into the Brand Split era as one of the Top Guys in WWE.

 

[adam]

I would have liked it better if it was Cena who turned on Styles.

 

[JoeMallard]

Because fans REFUSE to cheer faces and CHOOSE to cheer heels.

No-one puts a gun to your head. You are allowed to cheer faces and boo heels, yet wrestling fans these days want to troll Vince, and think they know his job better than him. So the "God complex" of the fans takes over, and thinking that the customer is always right, can't admit that they like a face, because that means that Vince is right all along, and to the WWE Universe, Vince McMahon knows nothing.

The only reason you or others like Sami Zayn or Enzo & Cass are because they are from "the cool" NXT, which Vince doesn't run, so you are allowed to like it by your fellow IWC.

That's a bunch of bullshit! I cheer for guys like Zayn because I have follwed them the years before they came to the WWE. Enzo has one of the best personalities and one of the best on the mic. If the people only cheer for them because it's cool, that's on them, but to think that's the only reason why people like to cheer for them is just plain stupid. Just remember just because someone came from NXT, doesn't mean they'll get over, just look at Tyler Breeze, Adam Rose, Bo Dallas and Emma when she called up the first time.

 

[lil steroid meat]

It was a nice little swerve.

Long term I don't think it was smart, they need faces bad.

But then again Orton and Wyatt are coming back soon so who knows.

Hopefully they don't completely destroy Styles character. This will make his third straight feud that he lost. He's starting to look like a high profile jobber.

 

[kadroan]

Technically he is a heel. But I can't see fans booing him because he's so likeable.

 

[d_henderson1810]

This is crazy booking. Really unpredictable stuff. And whilst people are falling over themselves to praise the decision to turn AJ Styles heel and to attack John Cena, I am going to play Devil's Advocate for a minute and say that I didn't like it.

Here's why...

First of all, AJ has been presented as the best of us in his feud against Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho since his debut in the WWE. Chris Jericho is a far better heel than AJ Styles will ever be, for my money anyway. If AJ were a heel all along, it makes his feud with Jericho and Reigns totally redundant. Wrestling fans have a short memory. But that short? Christ! If AJ was with The Club all along, why not use them to win the fucking Championship only a few weeks ago? Are the WWE really telling us that AJ would rather have saved that turn for a moment against John Cena, rather than to win the WWE Championship? No thanks.

Secondly, this is going to lead to bad things for everyone involved. I knew that AJ was eventually going to go The Club because you really have to be a heel to get over as a dominating stable. But John Cena has been up against the odds before and he will always find a way to level the playing field. Remember when he was up against The Authority. Or remember when he went up against The Wyatts? Those were not great feuds. In fact, they dragged on and one until Cena had worn them down and eventually got the win at the biggest stage. This is the same treatment that AJ can look forward to down the line. This is wrestling 101 and although I realise why it will happen. I just can't stomach it.

Frankly, the spotlight that is going to shine on AJ and The Club for the next couple of months is going to dull eventually as Cena begins teaching them a lesson. I imagine that this one is going to go all the way to SummerSlam before we get a proper match between the two. And whilst it might be a decent match, there is only going to be one winner.

Styles v Jericho ISN'T redundant, because Anderson and Gallows didn't show up until after Wrestlemania, when the Jericho feud was over. So it could be argued that Styles wasn't tempted to be heel until his buddies showed up, which was AFTER he lost to Jericho at Wrestlemania.

He also didn't go heel against Roman, because he may be tempted to join his mates, but wanted to win the WWE Title on his own, and prove to everyone that he deserved to be there. Once he couldn't win the belt, "on his own", he turned heel, because having a more aggressive edge might help him. I admit, that this could have been explained better.

What would you have, that Styles joins the Club and goes heel immediately? That has been done a hundred times before. Maybe having someone be conflicted before turning might be something different.

As for short memories? Well, how many times over the years have wrestlers turned face and heel, and then teamed with a past enemy in a tag match. Cena and Orton have teamed together, and yet have wrestled each other numerous times too. Wrestlers are pretty schyzophrenic and are friends one week, enemies the next, and yet this is the FIRST time you have complained? Having Styles turn quickly is nothing compared to the likes of the Big Show or Kane turning every six friggin' months.

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

The only reason you or others like Sami Zayn or Enzo & Cass are because they are from "the cool" NXT, which Vince doesn't run, so you are allowed to like it by your fellow IWC.

I like Enzo Amore because he is one of the most charismatic guys in WWE. So is Big Cass.

I like Sami Zayn because he is great in the ring and his feud with Owens was great.

You think I or anyone like people because they're 'allowed' to? What? Do you think I sit around and ask other posters on this site who to cheer? In short I don't. I'm a big Dolph Ziggler fan. And a big Usos fan. I'm also not that high on New Day. I like who I like and don't who I don't. It's that simple.

 

[d_henderson1810]

I like Enzo Amore because he is one of the most charismatic guys in WWE. So is Big Cass.

I like Sami Zayn because he is great in the ring and his feud with Owens was great.

You think I or anyone like people because they're 'allowed' to? What? Do you think I sit around and ask other posters on this site who to cheer? In short I don't. I'm a big Dolph Ziggler fan. And a big Usos fan. I'm also not that high on New Day. I like who I like and don't who I don't. It's that simple.

There are plenty of charismatic guys in WWE. For mine, I find Enzo's schtick annoying. I like Big Cass though, and can see him in the main event division.

I like Sami Zayn's wrestling, and I like Kevin Owens, but I have never watched NXT, so I like them despite that.

No, you don't ask others who you should cheer for. But when you have been on this site as long as I have, you are pressured to think a certain way, or you are criticised. Say that you think Vince is doing a good job, Roman Reigns isn't such a bad wrestler or that NXT and the indys suck, and you will get lots of angry responses. Many don't want conflict, so they say what others want them to think to keep peace. It happens in all areas of society.