7 Ups And 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (March 9)
3. AJ Goes A Bit Too Far
It’s understandable that WWE wants to make the Undertaker/AJ Styles feud personal to draw Taker into the fray and make fans care, but this might have missed the mark.
During his promo on Raw, Styles was talking about UT coming back after losing at WrestleMania 33 and seemingly retiring in a perfect post-match impromptu ceremony. He asked if it was pride, ego or a desire for the spotlight, which was working fine to egg Taker on.
But then AJ broke the fourth wall, talking about Taker not being The Phenom, but a broken-down man named Mark Calaway(!), and then he went further, referencing his real-life wife Michelle McCool as the root of the problems. Styles called her conniving and the one who was going to run Undertaker into the ground.
It just felt really forced, like they wanted to make it personal, so have Styles destroy the mystique of the Undertaker’s “Deadman” persona. It wasn’t necessary to make it personal.