5 Ups And 3 Downs From Last Night’s WWE SmackDown (Jan 28)

2. AJ Styles Is Again Allowed To Just Be AJ

Before the likes of Samoa Joe and AJ Styles made their way to the company, WWE had a nasty habit of completely stripping incoming wrestlers of their reputations elsewhere. For example, many fans joked that Joe would be given a hammy moniker by the promotion, such as 'Joey Samoey'. Thankfully, both he and AJ were spared that particular treatment. Refreshingly, WWE have simply left Styles alone and kept him pretty much intact. At the Royal Rumble, there was nothing different about him, with no WWE-style changes to try and make him their own creation in sight. His ring name, outfit and in-ring style all remained untampered with. The same thing could be said of his first Smackdown appearance, a winning effort against Curtis Axel. Amidst reports that the Styles Clash finishing move would be banned from WWE, AJ won the match with the hold. He even hit his trademark Pele Kick. It's a good thing that the McMahon family didn't feel the need to change Styles in the slightest, things are better that way. Fingers crossed that this trend will continue going forward with other talent like Karl Anderson and Shinsuke Nakamura.