How has the feud been going? It just seems like the typical feud you would expect between John Cena and a smark favorite. AJ Styles is attacking Cena's character. Cena is countering with talk about how much he loves being in the WWE. Nothing too fresh here.
If AJ was even more edgy and real, he would look like CM Punk. He's following in the line of CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. You can say he went through his "Daniel Bryan" phase earlier in the year when he was a face. The WWE just looked like they were trying too hard to sell this guy as popular. They put him on some list of loudest fan reactions for his Royal Rumble debut. Part of his feud with Chris Jericho turned into Jericho being upset fans were chanting for AJ. Was the WWE aiming to start some movement? And then he turned heel and got two sidekicks. Typical storyline with John Cena now going on. This is his "CM Punk" phase.
The WWE has really not done a good job pushing AJ Styles in his first year. Look at his first two completed storylines. He starts with a feud with Chris Jericho. It started at the end of January and went to the start of April. That is a little more than two months. In that span, they had a face vs. face rivalry, started to team together, got a shot at the tag titles, failed to win, broke up, Jericho turned heel, and then had their final singles match to end the feud. All that in two months. This is the kind of story that should have been given more time than that to mature. If this was a basic feud about AJ Styles earning Chris Jericho's respect, yeah, no need to drag it on. But the WWE added more to it and could have really done more with the story.
AJ's next storyline involved The Club. He spent weeks not wanting to embrace the heel side. I saw fans eating it up, but the climax of the story was garbage. He sends them away one week, then just fully turns heel and brings them back to his side to start the feud with Cena. There was potential there, but the WWE has not taken advantage of it. And now The Club is taken away from AJ. The only thing they ever did during this time, their whole reason for existence, was just to beat up John Cena. The whole things just lasted another few months. Given the hype this group has, the WWE could have done so much more than what they did. They did not get enough out of the stable.
AJ Styles has been in the WWE for less than a year and he already seems to have been given several things to do that could have lasted so much longer than they have. The WWE is just going through the motions with him. They need to do a better job building his identity. Don't try to make him the next CM Punk or Daniel Bryan. Bryan did it organically and Punk is better on the mic. Moreover, stop relying on stuff he did outside the WWE. The WWE is just botching it, anyway. And that is what I would say this is, a botch. They are not screwing the guy. Wrestling fans may be eating up a lot of what the WWE is doing with him, but I don't see a guy that has broken out at the level of CM Punk or Daniel Bryan. I do see a guy they are trying to break out at that level.
What about John Cena? He's doing his usual act. I remember fans saying that Smackdown got the short end of the stick in the draft two weeks ago. Smackdown got John Cena. I have seen even fans that dislike John Cena talk about him like he's a draw. When John Cena returned a few months ago, I remember the ratings report from one of the wrestling news sites crediting Cena's return as one of the reasons for respectable numbers that night for Raw. People think Cena is a draw. Well, here's his chance to prove it. Help Smackdown.
It's not like he has to carry Smackdown. It's live now and away from a night that features football. It will see better numbers than it previously did. Randy Orton, the #2 guy for so long, is also on this show. This is his chance to prove his worth. I have seen some fans talk about how much of a star AJ Styles is. I mentioned the WWE hyping his popularity. Okay, he gets to help Smackdown. All three of these guys are involved in top feuds, without even mentioning Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship. I don't see how Smackdown got the short end of the stick. It is a two-hour show, after all. How crowded do you want the roster to be with top guys?
How has Smackdown been doing in the ratings? Since getting more viewers than Raw that first week it went live two weeks ago, it has not won the ratings war. But it has been averaging over 2.7 million viewers these past two episodes. That is a big improvement from previous weeks before going live and an improvement from this time last year. The WWE just has to keep having big stuff happen on Smackdown. I wouldn't be surprised to see it get more viewers than Raw again, especially during football season.
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