7 Ups And 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Feb 1)
3. Putting Over Your Opponent
A lot was accomplished Monday to establish AJ Styles as a player in WWE without him having to compete in the ring or even say a word. In addition to his appearance on Miz TV, Styles received high praise from his opponent last week, Chris Jericho. In a backstage interview with Renee Young, Y2J talked about how he had thought about AJ all week, how their match was great except for the outcome. He called Styles the real deal, a tenacious pit bull. But things got interesting when Jericho mentioned that he would be watching Styles upcoming Smackdown match against Miz very closely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajyEgrYpG_0 Jericho has been flirting with a slow burn heel turn since returning to WWE, and the wily veteran unable to put down a new talent would be a great heel character for him at this stage of his career. Perhaps Y2J confronts AJ and asks for a rematch at Fastlane. Maybe Jericho cheats to win to set up a decisive match (notice the difference between trading wins?). Either way, this could be a nice little intro feud for Styles in WWE.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
