The Nature Boy AJ Styles

[salopstick]

most of you will know that ric flair is not the original nature boy, the original nature boy was the first wwwf champion buddy rogers. ric flair took the moniker and even beat him in a match for the right to the name and became the nature boy that we know and love today.

given that we now have a history where that gimmick can be passed like a torch could AJ become the nature boy. regardless of whether he ever jumps ship the likes of aj are the future of this business. he has aligned with flair who is teaching him how to be the new dirtiest player in the game.

i can see flair passing the name over over the next few months, it wont hurt flair or his legacy but give AJ a massive rub and keeps what is a great gimmick going. (At the end of the flair/aj/sting that is surely to follow) AJ and flair could have a short program.

AJ could either just adopt the name and piss off flair or flair could bestow it on him

AJ is so recognisable in wrestling that even if he made the jump to wwe in the future he has enough stroke to keep his real name.

So could AJ carry it off or are the days when gimmicks could be passed or duplicated would it fall flat on its face

 

[masonscot]

AJ could never carry on that name, nor can anybody else, wrestling fans relate the name to Ric flair and not a lot of people can do what ric flair did.

 

[Holmesy]

im all for ric passing on the moniker but i dont think Aj is the guy, i cant see him as the dirtiest player in the game, if anyone should have alligned with ric to take over the mantel it should have been robert roode, i could totally see him as a new naitch,

 

[sWo]

AJ doesn't really have the "Nature Boy" feel or look to him. I can't picture him as a "limosine riding, jet flying,kiss stealing,wheelin,dealin, son of a gun." He doesn't have that kind of look. AJ looks a little too clean cut, a little too "goody goody" to be that man. Quite frankly, I'm not sure there's anyone in wrestling right now, be it TNA, WWE, ROH, or what not, that comes close, save possibly either Dolph Ziggler, or even the Miz from a few years ago (Where he had the contracts of several ECW Divas).

 

[VencomHardcore]

AJ Styles doesn't have the voice and Looks like a man that can't get women. He has no swagger at all. Ric Flair had " Swagger, Looks, Styles and the Money to live the Gimmick ". AJ doesn't fit. He has nothing to make women want to find out what hotel he is staying in and wait for the show to end so they can be a groupie. Unless you are talking about the girls from the chess club.

No Naitch should wait until there is a wrestler that has the looks, styles, body, and appeal that get women ready to take thier clothes off because Flair did that plus he was an amazing wrestler and could sell the worst talent.

AJ great high flyer but no Flair for the Gold !

 

[smalltownfan]

Like Sting, I don't think AJ will stay heel for very long. He is too well-loved and respected. However, this direction his character is going will help him tremendously in the long run. Who doesn't want to have Ric Flair in his corner? To me, there will only be one Nature Boy and that is Ric Flair. AJ will do great until Flair's tutelage but whether he reaches the plateau that Flair has, or even come close to it, remains to be seen. He is a helluva talent, though, and he has improved tremendously in the last year.

 

[SwimminInIndy]

Yeah, on last week's impact when he was going with the heel character it just seemed out of place. He seemed out of place. His "whoo" was pathetic as well.

I don't think he will stay heel long, and the angle may be that after a while of cheating and trying to be "dirty", he has a changeof heart and gets rid of Ric. They may even have a match, or Ric could find a new person to do his dirty work.

On second thought, what may happen is Ric Flair can try to teach AJ, and see that it is not working, secretly find someone else, and have that person turn on AJ, and be the new (but not really ever) Nature Boy.

I kind of like the idea of passing on the name, but like someone said earlier, it won't work because that is Ric Flair, and will always be the name first associated with Flair. No matter if he wrestles ever again or not.

 

[Travaje]

Whenever I see AJ Styles, it just makes me sad.

If anything, AJ is gonna be the next Sting. He's gonna always be one of the best wrestlers for the 2nd best company, and totally afraid to jump to WWE.

Sadly for AJ, he doesn't have a gimmick like Sting (and Sting had two good gimmicks) to help get him over. Sure, he can wrestle, but if he doesn't have a gimmick and the office doesn't know how to use him (which they no longer don't), that is not going to be enough. I care less and less about AJ every time I watch. He was exciting in 2005. Now it's just old and tired.

Ric Flair has even said that the one mistake Sting made in his career was not going to WWE. I don't see what else AJ can possibly do in TNA. They can't get him any more over as a wrestler. He's wrestled almost everybody. They can't create a gimmick for him. They can't find a wrestler better than Ric Flair to help get him over any more. If TNA really believes they can elevate him like say, Randy Orton, then they're in trouble.

I don't know if AJ going to WWE would work, but I do know AJ staying in TNA won't. I believe he's hurting himself long-term by staying in TNA. Just believe an excellent wrestler, and nothing more, is not enough....especially on a TV show that's going around bragging about the 1.3 rating they got featuring 16 minutes of wrestling in 2 hours.

 

[Pedro08]

I really don't see Flair passing the Nature Boy moniker on. It has been associated with him for so long that I don't think fans will accept anyone else. I understand what you're saying about 'Nature Boy' Buddy Rodgers, but in this day and age with the internet and wrestling being so prevalent on nationwide TV, people have come to just accept Ric Flair as the Nature Boy.

I don't have a problem with AJ turning heel, but adapting Flair's mannerisms feel forced. I hope it's just part of the evolution of AJ heel character as he figures out how to play it.

I would prefer him to play a Chris Jerico-(I'm the best at what I do)-type heel. He has the credentials to back him up being a TNA Grand-Slam champion.

 

[December2Dismember]

SWO brought up a good point, Dolph Ziggler would be AWESOME as the new Nature Boy!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While it's true that Ric Flair isn't the original Nature Boy and did copy much of the look and improvised some of the mannerisms from Buddy Rogers, Ric Flair has become the one that's most thought of as the "Nature Boy" by the past few generations of fans. That has to do with no only how well Flair was able to use the Nature Boy moniker and character, but also due to Flair's appearances on television throughout the 80s and 90s.

Buddy Rogers didn't enjoy the same type of exposure that Ric Flair has over the course of his career but while exposure is a factor, it's not THE factor. Flair took Rogers' character and improved upon it in every measurable way. He took the Nature Boy character, made it his own and did it better than Buddy Rogers did. Now, in my view, that is THE factor that ultimately made Ric Flair THE definitive Nature Boy for, what I think is saft to say, the considerable majority of pro wrestling fans.

Now, can AJ Styles pull it off as well as Ric Flair or better? Hell no and for several reasons. One reason brings up the whole bit about television exposure. Generations of fans have grown up with Ric Flair as the Nature Boy and he's been hailed as arguably the greatest overall pro wrestler in history. He's always got to be considered in the top ten at the very very least and everything from his looks, his mannerisms, his wrestling ability, his work on the mic, etc. has contributed to that. If AJ Styles were to try and do anything approaching the Nature Boy gimmick, I think many couldn't help but see him as a cheap copy. Styles is fantastic in the ring but, for me personally, he doesn't have the look, the charisma or the mic ability to pull off the Nature Boy character a fraction as well as Flair did.

If Styles is going to be the next "Nature Boy", if he doesn't AT LEAST do it as well as Flair, it's going to bomb and it could be seen as a real black mark in Styles' overall legacy.