10 "Perfect" Wrestling Feuds That Went Horribly Wrong
2. AJ Styles Vs. Kevin Owens
Virtually everybody looked forward to this ex-indie super-worker clash when AJ Styles turned up in WWE.
Unhinged psycho brawler versus workrate polymath with the ability to launch into cool, desperation counter strikes from vulnerable positions: it was hard to botch something with such potential. Predictably, WWE told a rubbish story to build it.
Astonishingly, Styles and Owens botched the end product.
Their first PPV match, at Backlash 2017, was good if bloated, and being the first match in a WWE trilogy, it didn't end cleanly. Styles got his leg caught in the commentary table and was counted out. He looked like a bit of a t*t, but that's a WWE babyface for you. The second match, at Battleground, was botched beyond belief - so much so that WWE had to book a title switch because they inadvertently tumbled into a pinning position and Styles didn't kick out.
The SummerSlam rubber match wasn't botched, but it existed to build the Owens Vs. Shane McMahon match - Shane of course was the real challenge - and like the previous two matches was wrestled in a weirdly enervated rhythm that couldn't entirely be blamed on WWE constraints.
They just didn't gel.