10 Absolute Worst Ways WWE Dragged Out Feuds
AJ Styles' WWE Title reign: Far from Phenomenal.
Consider CM Punk's celebrated 434-day reign with the WWE Heavyweight Title between November 20, 2011 and January 27, 2013.
Prior to his summer 2012 heel turn, Punk's babyface act worked so well because it was easy - and reassuring - to believe in. He defeated Chris Jericho cleanly, on two separate occasions, at WrestleMania XVIII and Extreme Rules. Only the latter match orbited the lofty "Best In The World" aim, but Punk's next series lived, emphatically, up to the gimmick. Punk cleanly defeated Daniel Bryan in a technical submission-heavy barnstormer undiluted by WWE's traditional in-ring "style". It was singularly outstanding.
Bryan took Punk to his Limit in a match so good its quality invited a sequel, as opposed to a numbing layout designed to p*ss everybody off. Bryan emerged from it a strong challenger. His skull-thudding striking game portraying him as a threat, his defeat meant so much more than any tainted victory could have. He didn't need a dumbass referee to get "heat"; he generated it himself with sudden, impactful cut-off timing.
Contrast that celebrated babyface brilliance with AJ Styles' muted and static current reign with the same belt.
Styles is the victim of WWE's fundamentally broken narrative mechanisms, and he's far from the only one...
10. Blue Balls
We were promised a 'Dream' wrestling match.
The AJ Styles Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura feud sold itself using the pandering lingo of the intended audience, and there was nothing wrong, whatsoever, with that premise. No matter how uninspiring, or basic, the relief that Nakamura wasn't an anti-American heel fuelled a surge of optimism. The weekly storytelling was weak, but we were about to bear witness to the true King of Strong Style in a match that promised us the best version of the act.
It didn't matter, we said, and we were sadly correct.
And then he turned heel after a slower and less dynamic version of their Wrestle Kingdom 10 thriller, before targeting AJ's testicles in a feud built on ball-crushing. He attacked Styles again and again in the nether regions and Styles, a moron, never once wore a protective cup. This was a grim metaphor for the way in which Creative neglected to safeguard the integrity of its WWE Champion. The classic wrestling babyface is a whip-smart badass; Styles, a moron, wasn't even a hapless panto f*ckwit. Hapless panto f*ckwits can, at least, eventually, hear the audience.
This was WWE doing everything WWE is rubbish at it in this post-NXT 'Network' era: making babyfaces look dumb as a rule, and forgetting its own rules. At Backlash 18, the match that could not end in a disqualification ended via technicality, after the original Greatest Royal Rumble sequel ended indecisively thus setting up this "decisive" stipulation, and then your 2018 Royal Rumble Match winner was shunted down the card.
He became an anti-American heel.