Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted November 15, 2018 Awards Moderator Share Posted November 15, 2018 What do people think is happening with AJ Styles, then? A year long WWE Title reign ended on TV with no buildup. Removed from a (built up) Champion vs Champion rematch at Survivor Series. Missing his first PPV (excluding Evolution) since they started using combined rosters again. Is he injured? In the doghouse for some reason? They don’t want none? He don’t want none? Buggering off? Or just in need of a rest and some recuperation before he burns out? And assuming he’s still around in the short term, what’s next for him? There’s clearly a rematch with Bryan, but then what? Are they planning to move him to Raw, or is he too much the face of SmackDown for him to shift over now? Many questions, much speculation, and maybe the newzsites have already been reporting on plans - but if it’s not posted on here I don’t see it so forgive me for that - but it seems a strange and abrupt turn of events for someone who WWE have felt pretty reliant to carry a fair bit of the load this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 With Bryan heel, isn’t AJ the only top babyface that SmackDown has? There’s Jeff Hardy but he’s Jeff Hardy, he’s never gonna be the very top guy on the brand. If AJ is gone, even temporarily, Bryan going heel is a very odd choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted November 15, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 15, 2018 Maybe it's similar to last year when Vince woke up one day and decided he didn't fancy Lesnar v bloody Jinder. He maybe just feels a fresh match with a fresh direction is the way to go for this show. Who knows maybe AJ gets involved in the main event somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Devon Malcolm Posted November 15, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 15, 2018 Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbertsNextGimmick Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 Maybe Styles wins the rumble and chooses to face Lesnar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fatty Facesitter Posted November 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2018 My initial thinking was that it had to be a suspension or some sort of personal matter, and I fully expected something to be announced sometime around yesterday when the dust had already settled on the title change. But the only extra news item I've seen come through so far is that Bryan pitched his heel turn to Vince, who in turn gave it the green light and consequently agreed to the title change. So it looks as though Vince has literally gone for the title change purely for the Bryan heel turn and not because of any particular issue with AJ. It's not the heel turn or title changes themselves I find baffling, just the manner of them. As ever, they've totally rushed something and haven't let it simmer. My gut feeling is that this is a panic reaction from Vince off the back of declining Smackers attendances or something along those lines. Wonder if Fox are snooping around their latest investment too and whether that' s altering any of the direction the show is taking. Assuming all is well(ness?) with AJ, the continuation of a feud with Bryan would still be great to watch. Maybe they even have Shawn planned for him as opposed to Bryan, and this was a way of kickstarting a new pathway towards that?  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted November 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2018 Everything Meltzer has said suggests it was just a classic Vince shakeup where he wakes up one morning and wants to change plans. He also theorised that Vince and WWE not knowing how many more Brock matches they're going to get may have played a factor. If Brock truly is heading to the UFC and he really is only going to wrestle two or three more matches, then it makes sense to do the Bryan match whilst you can rather than repeating something we've already seen. It is sort of a dream match, if you ignore the stupid fact that it's now going to be heel vs. heel. The only problem is that I'm more convinced than ever that this is one massive blag and Brock is never going back to UFC. Especially now Roman is on the shelf, I imagine Brock can name his price and make millions and millions without getting smashed up by Daniel Cormier. If that's the case though, and Brock ends up staying forever, the way they've booked him this past year is going to look really fucking stupid in retrospect. He was their biggest, most popular star this time last year. It's unbelievable how much harm they've done portraying him as this lazy, anti-WWE dickhead. It didn't get heel heat and it didn't get Roman cheered. It just made people stop caring about a guy who I imagine is their highest paid wrestler by a considerable margin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elisarcabrera Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 It’s a reaction to losing Becky at survivor series. Quick changes. Pretty sure it would have been unplanned until the actual day when it was confirmed Rousey v Lynch was off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 16, 2018 Share Posted November 16, 2018 Can you imagine two years ago speculating that a WWE Title switch was a panic reaction to Becky Lynch being off the next PPV? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted November 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2018 17 minutes ago, Uncle Zeb said: Can you imagine two years ago speculating that a WWE Title switch was a panic reaction to Becky Lynch being off the next PPV? I’m struggling to imagine it today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted November 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2018 When did AJ start looking like Richard Herring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted November 16, 2018 Moderators Share Posted November 16, 2018 Since he got to WWE, I believe I remarked upon it after his debut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Hannibal Scorch Posted November 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2018 4 minutes ago, Carbomb said: When did AJ start looking like Richard Herring? Since he was in the dying days of his TNA run. Been well documented though as @PowerButchi said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted November 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2018 Fair enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted November 16, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted November 16, 2018 16 hours ago, AlbertsNextGimmick said: Maybe Styles wins the rumble and chooses to face Lesnar? Between everyone that's missing the show this would be putting your last two proper main eventers (as I type) in the same match, so I don't think they'll do that. Styles to do something else, Lesnar v Rollins would be my bet. Once Rollins frees himself of the I title he's popular enough to go main event again with a Rumble win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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