Quote:
Originally Posted by xrodmuc316
Has had a weird reign for a babyface.
1. He won the title against an underwhelming champ in Jinder Mahal.
2. He did not win the title at a PPV.
3. He won the title in a taped show, not even live.
4. Lost to Brock Lesnar in a champion vs champion match 12 days after winning title.
5. Lost non title matches to K.O. And Sami in back 2 back weeks.
6. Caused a double countout to keep title at GRR against Shinsuke.
7. Had a draw after a double kick to the balls to keep title.
8. Lost a non title match to Shinsuke.
9. Got himself disqualified on purpose to keep his title against Joe.
10. Tapped out to Joe, but ref didn't see since he was counting.
Some of this stuff makes him look like a weak babyface, while there are multiple defenses that he walked away from by losing/not beating the challenger.
Thankfully he is good in the mic and great in the ring, but this is some of the most wacky booking for a babyface champion I can recall.
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Well, it's only weird in context.
1. Someone had to beat Jinder Mahal. It was refreshing for the belt to go to someone who can actually wrestle. They also had to get the belt off Jinder pretty fast when they realized he wasn't going to sell out India and Brock didn't want to sell for someone that shit.
2. They had to get the belt onto Styles before Survivor Series and the Lesnar match. They saw the opportunity to have the belt change hands in the UK for the first time. Just a little moment for the audience, I guess.
3. The taped nature of the show was a necessity of it being in the UK. Plus, sometimes they hope worth of mouth travels with these things. Mankind won the WWF Title from The Rock in a taped show.
4. Well, he lost to Brock Lesnar because Brock was going to be the main event of WrestleMania. Styles probably won the belt in the first place, at least in part,
to lose to Lesnar.
5. I didn't remember that detail. Yeah, that sucks. But then he beat them in a Handicap Match at the Rumble or something, didn't he? Not really unusual for a champion to lose these days, sadly.
6-9. That's true, but I think they give these little nods to guys like Shinsuke and Joe so they can have PPV wins against Styles when they have no plans to give them the belt. It's like a consolation win or something. And it allows them to thread through and keep hammering out the program and they're too slack to come up with creative reasons for them to fight.
10. This is a shitty way to book a babyface champ, but they also booked him to whine about the Handicap Match. Road Dogg also believed that he could present Becky as a heel and Charlotte as a babyface. And he also booked Dolph Ziggler to be a heel in a handicap match against Kalisto and Apollo Crews. I fully expect Shinsuke Nakamura to get a redemption arc as a heel. It's a very tone-deaf product.
I'm just amazed that they've gone with Styles for as long as they have. I'm a huge fan of the guy's work, and it's clear that Vince is too, but I would have thought he'd have dropped the belt to Nakamura for a bit, maybe get it back, drop it to Joe, etc. Styles doesn't seem like a guy they build around, but in this weird way they kind of have. Well, they've had him be the champion.
I have no clue why they chose this reign to be so long. Maybe they've just lucked into it? I mean, once you get to Mania with Styles as champ for the Nakamura match, and you're not going with Nak getting the belt in the final year of his contract, and then you go through Rusev, you're now in Joe. It's not like he's had a new program every month. He beat Jinder for the belt, beat Owens & Zayn, Nakamura, Rusev and now Joe. That's 5 serious challengers, grouping Owens & Zayn as a unit.
I read something about them promoting him as the "longest reigning champ in SmackDown history." Now they seem to want to call him the third best SmackDown Superstar of all-time next to The Rock and The Undertaker. They did this graphic where they put him ahead of Edge and Eddie Guerrero. So in their own way, they are pushing him, and it seems like they want him to be associated with SmackDown. Like how Angle was, or Eddie was, or Rey was. It'll be interesting to see how that all plays out and whether they just move Styles to Raw next year and drop the SmackDown lines to hype him anyway.