WWE: 5 Reasons AJ Styles Won't Be Signed (And 5 Reasons Why They Should)
5. A.J Styles Is Genuinely Phenomenal
When The Rock called himself 'The Great One', you have to believe that he really believed it. And so too did WWE. You know what? They were right to do so. The Rock was/is genuinely great. The primary objective in wrestling is (and always has been) to make money and The Rock made truckloads of it. In fact, The Rock made The McMahons so much money that they could probably now hire Ted Turner to clean out a solid gold fountain shaped like Steve Lombardi p*ssing all over Goldberg and still have change left over to make spurious, quasi-libellous DVD documentaries about anyone who has ever upset them anywhere. Ever. "That's right. The kid who bullied me on the bus when I was 10 just didn't respect the business. No sir, he did not! He didn't put me over once. Kept throwing potatoes...It was awful" Back to The Rock: Is he great? Well, he cracked Hollywood and almost never gets crapped on for being a wrestler. Now that's great. When Bret 'The Hitman' Hart called himself 'the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be', nobody argued. That's because Bret was legitimately the best worker in the company at any given time. He really was every bit as good as he said he was. Undertaker calls himself 'The Phenom' and you know what? His career is pretty phenomenal. He worked Giant Gonzalez. Giant f*cking Gonzalez, to a semi-decent WrestleMania moment. If that's not worthy of the title 'Phenom' then I don't know what is. Look at the way he takes care of Mick Foley in the 1998 'Hell in a Cell' match, I mean really look. What a pro. Finally, is Terry Funk really 'wrestling's living legend'? Really? You bet your ass he is and I'll smack the taste out of your mouth if you dare to suggest otherwise (well, I won't, but he might). So, is A.J Styles truly 'phenomenal'? His arsenal, a mixture of graceful high spots and rattlesnake-like offensive strikes, is simply dazzling to watch. He makes a babyface comeback as well as anyone does these days and he innovates holds and moves like it's a bodily function. Seriously, open another tab right now, go to Youtube and watch 'The Top 50 Moves of A.J Styles' or some such. From The 450 to the Styles Clash, from the Spiral Tap to the Calf Killer, the guy is always doing something, well, phenomenal. A.J Styles is one of the very best wrestlers in the world today and he deserves the opportunity to work on the biggest stage of them all. Not only that, but WWE's talent roster deserve the chance to work with someone with as much innate quality as P1.His style is different, but then, variety is the spice of life (especially so in wrestling). Not only that, he can really talk. His promos aren't overtly bombastic or catchphrase-orientated; he just comes across like a serious athlete who isn't afraid of a fight. His mic work is simple, direct and authentic. Plus, the camera loves him. Nowhere was this more evident than the episode of 'Impact!' where Dixie Carter put a contract out on Styles and the wrestlers tried in vain to collect on it. The storyline was a real testament to Styles' on-camera ability. What about that moment where Bad Influence jumped him backstage and A.J took 'em both out with a fire extinguisher and a series of utterly convincing right hooks? Then, for good measure, he took out both of The Bro Mans. After that, without even thinking, he looked at the camera and said... "Its gonna be a long night". Cooler than an Inuit's nutsack. Is A.J Phenomenal? Believe it.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
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Latcho Drom,
- CQ