10 WWE Acts That Are Running Out Of Steam

2. AJ Styles

AJ Styles 365 4
WWE Network

Punching Vince McMahon in the face could yet be AJ Styles' ticket back to the top of the card if The Chairman wants to keep 'The Phenomenal One' hot heading into the 'Show Of Shows', but if there's no wrestling pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, the former WWE Champion may be looking at a tenure as long as his tepid title reign in obscurity.

Styles did his best over the 371 days he spent atop SmackDown Live, but said best wasn't always good enough to overcome obvious creative shortcomings hamstringing many of his programmes.

Almost all of his angles were dreaded multi-match ones - the company forced themselves to come up with shortcuts rather than solutions when AJ went to war with Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe. Though Styles won all of those feuds, none of the wrestlers involved felt much like winners by the time the feuds were actually over.

It adjusted the perception of AJ accordingly, and only a major, major storyline on the 'Road To WrestleMania' can recover what he's rapidly lost.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett