Overall, I would say it was a lackluster debut for AJ Styles. I am not saying the match wasn't solid. But there is no big hype or angle with his debut. He just debuted at the Royal Rumble and is now just a member of the WWE roster.
The WWE cannot be dumb enough to think that their entire audience knows AJ Styles and got hyped over him just because of talk on the Internet. The commentators did a good job of putting Styles over, but the WWE cannot get lazy from the standpoint of how they actually push him. This guy is not a huge star. He is a talented wrestler that never got to work for a company that ever became a serious threat to the WWE. A lot of viewers will not care. You can say the WWE has The Rock and Brock Lesnar to draw in those fans, but is the WWE doing a good job creating the next generation of stars? AJ Styles only has a small window to be developed to be a star. He is no "kid" in the business anymore.
Let me look at AJ Styles himself from Raw. He obviously knows how to wrestle. But he needs to show more personality. I am sure it will eventually come. I remember when Paige debuted a few years ago. She seemed a little awkward at first. But she's definitely found her confidence since then. I am sure that happens to a lot of people. I would always be awkward when I started a new job. Once I got into the groove of things, I was fine. For AJ Styles, it really isn't about nervousness causing sloppy matches. He needs to show some charisma. I have seen some of his TNA stuff. I know he has a personality. A dry face role is not going to help him get over with the wider audience.
Let me go back to Jericho. Look back at his debut. That was a great debut. The WWE hyped up to it. He debuted by interrupting The Rock. He gave a great promo. He even refers to himself as a "charismatic showman" in that promo. He just looked like a guy ready to be a real star with that debut. I was not even a fan of Jericho at that time, but I can say in retrospect that it was a great debut. The WWE handled it well and Jericho handled his end very well.
Some people have said AJ Styles is not that great on the mic. Regardless, I think the WWE could have handled his debut much better. He needs some kind of real angle and purpose to make him stand out. Without that, he will flounder. If reports of AJ Styles being paid a lot by the WWE are true, they are not going to get the most out of their investment if they do not step it up with him.
This just reminds me of the diva revolution. Internet fans caused this uproar over the state of the diva division. That led to longer matches and eventually three NXT female wrestlers debuting on one night. And what followed was a flop. Match quality really did not improve that much. None of these women became very over through their work on the main roster. And it has even been irritating to some fans at times. Just because some fans were screaming for this on Twitter does not mean all the fans are equally as sold on it. The WWE had to have done more to make those meaningless matches back then mean more. It was more hype than substance. That is what I feel right now with AJ Styles. Just because wrestling fans and Internet fans are so excited about this guy does not mean he is already sold to the wider audience. The WWE has to put more work into him or he will flop.
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