10 Major Mistakes WWE Has Made In 2016 (So Far)

From all reports, AJ Styles is a lot more broken down than is immediately apparent. He came into WWE with legitimate back problems, and things have only gotten worse since then. Some say it won’t be long before he'll either need to take an extended break or even retire altogether.

Now, the man is such a superlative wrestler that he doesn’t seem to have missed a step and his matches since his January debut have generally been the best on the card no matter who he’s faced. But how much longer will he be able to perform at that level?

WWE could still be using his significant popularity to accomplish something longer term with Styles: after all, they leapfrogged him to the main roster over established NXT main event talent like Finn Balor and Samoa Joe for a reason.

Instead, they've thrown that over to give us a wholly unnecessary change of alignment. Scuttlebutt (like gossip with a steel chair) says that the turn was being discussed as far back as April, as it’s considered that the roster is short of villains: for the same reason, Rollins was brought back to be the heel he was when he left, despite the crowd clearly being desperate to cheer him.

Unfortunately, a top level heel in the WWE needs to be able to talk, and that’s always been the big hole in Styles’ game. Styles doesn't have the personality or the mic skills to carry off heel work on the stick, and he lacks the size and intensity to do it with his ring work alone. Worse, like Rollins, his in-ring style screams babyface. It doesn’t matter who he dropkicks or why, people still want to cheer him.

Of course, if they continue pairing him with Gallows and Anderson, people might just get bored enough to boo him regardless....