FanPost

Why The WWE Must Resist The Temptation to Move AJ Styles to Raw

WWE.com

When Vince McMahon announced the upcoming "Superstar Shake-Up", most fans felt their stomach's drop.

There are no shortage of Superstars, and indeed, a few entire divisions, for whom a change of scenery really be a boon—Sami Zayn, Rusev, both women's divisions and the SmackDown tag-team divisions all spring to mind. However, given the many rumours which have been making the rounds recently, few fans saw this as anything more than a thinly veiled excuse to move their hottest star, AJ Styles, to what, in spite of the recent ratings and critical consensus, remains Vince's designated top brand.

But while a reunion with The Club, or a feud with fellow Bullet Club alumnus Finn Bálor, are certainly tantalising prospects, and inserting him into the title picture against Brock Lesnar creates instant main event matches, there are plenty of reasons to worry that a brand switch may do more harm than good for Styles, and the WWE. Join us as I look at five reasons why the WWE needs to avoid the temptation to switch AJ Styles from SmackDown Live to Raw.

1: SmackDown Live really is the house that AJ Styles built

In spite of some obvious missteps, there is undoubtedly been a lot to praise about the way the WWE have handled this brand-split—much of which goes double for SmackDown Live, whose two hour format, limited, but well thought out use of its on-screen authority figures, clear and compelling storytelling, and clever and considered use of talent that was languishing prior to the split has created consistently watchable and interesting wrestling. And it is impossible to underestimate the key role Styles has played in this.

With the possible exception of The Miz, who is having the run of his career, Styles has been SmackDown, and the WWE’s greatest success story, combining prodigious in-ring ability, with mic and character work which surprised many who have watched his rise to the top.

The moment rumours began to circulate that WWE planned to move Styles to the red brand, fans, near unanimously, decried the idea, stating simply that Raw could not be trusted to handle styles properly—and indeed, there are no shortage of examples of the WWE mishandling talent on its supposed A-Show.

However, the truth is, at times, the blue brand have certainly shown a penchant for mishandling their biggest star too. Let's not forget that early in his title run, Styles found himself locked in a World Title feud with none other than James Ellsworth, which saw Styles to fall to 0-3 against the chinless wonder. Indeed, based on a number of factors, you could certainly make a compelling case that Styles is at the top of the wrestling world today, in spite, rather than because of the way SmackDown Live has treated him.

Yet that is precisely why he must remain there. Styles has earned the right to call SmackDown Live his show, his house. He has taken some objectively awful booking, and head-scratching storylines, and incredible missed booking opportunities, and run with them, and made them work. He has done so seemingly by the sheer force of his own ability, and personality, and in spite of the fact that even the land of opportunity that is SmackDown Live have not alway treated him as the superstar he truly is.

Even this WrestleMania, Styles was forced to steal the show, opening the evening against a non-wrestler, rather than being handed the spotlight, taking part in the main event, or a title match which no-one would deny he deserves.

There is no question that Styles would be able to do the same on Monday nights, taking whatever Raw creative throw at him and making it his own, but the question remains, why should he have to? He's paid his dues on SmackDown and should be allowed to reap the benefit of this hard work on the blue brand.

2. Shinsuke Nakamura's debut on SmackDown Live demands that Styles remain with the blue brand

When Shinsuke Nakamura first debuted in NXT, anyone who knew even the slightest thing about his history began salivating at the prospect of once again seeing the King of Stong Style take on the Phenomenal One.

If you haven't seen it already, stop reading this now… I’ll wait while you go and watch Styles vs Nakamura at WrestleKingdom 10, and then you can come back and thank me!

Done? You’re welcome.

This match offered just a glimpse of why fans couldn't wait to see Styles and Nakamura face off in a proper, well booked, long-term feud when they both arrived in the WWE.

Styles vs Nakamura is destined to be a show-stealer at any PPV they wrestle at, and especially as John Cena once again steps back into a more part-time role, is the closest thing to a marquee matchup that the blue brand has.

Nakamura's arrival on the SmackDown Live following WrestleMania hinted at the possibility of this long awaited matchup. To dangle this in front of fans, only to rip it away from them the following week, would be a bridge too far for many of the WWE's most hardcore fans.

However, paying off this this feud goes far beyond fan service, and could literally make or break Nakamura's main-roster run.

The transition from NXT to the main roster has not always been a smooth one for many Superstars. While many NXT stars have eventually gone on to do great things on the main roster, there are just as many NXT fan favourites who either fade into obscurity, or are forced to return to the drawing board and completely re-invent themselves before extablishing themselves as primetime players.

And particularly for a wrestler as enigmatic, unique, and idiosyncratic as Nakamura, there is a very real possibility that, if not handled well, fans simply will not take to the superstar. NXT's fans are smart, passionate, and forgiving, and have embraced many characters that the WWE's more casual, at times apathetic and disconnected, and occasionally ruthless main-roster audience have not.

Strong style is a very different kind of wrestling to that which many of the WWE's more casual fans are familiar with, and Nakamura’s particular take on Puroresu is certainly not for everyone even among fans of the style. His unique personality may not translate to the main roster in the way that it has at Full Sail, and without a 'safe pair of hands' to help get him over with the WWE Universe, Nakamura's difficulties with the English language may make it impossible to do so on his own, based on the current strength of his promo work. Nakamura needs to let his wrestling do the talking for him, but booked against the wrong opponent, this may not happen.

While there are no shortage of superstars that Nakamura could have great matches with, very few on the SmackDown Live roster are a known quantity when it comes to working with him, and few, if any, can work in the style the way the Phenomenal One can. Styles is that safe pair of hands they need to put Nakamura in a program with during his early main-roster days, in order to ensure he lives up to the immense potential he clearly has.

3. Raw can't afford him

There are no two ways to slice it—no matter who new GM Kurt Angle, and commissioner Stephanie McMahon offer in a trade, their SmackDown counterparts should not accept the offer. There is literally no-one in the company quite like AJ Styles, and simply no trade likely to be offered that would makes sense.

In many ways, it could be suggested that this is a moot point. SmackDown and Raw are not really competing companies/brands, in spite of how the WWE may like to present them, and in spite of what we see on TV, there will be no back room discussions and deals being cut. Regardless of which brand they appear on, they are all WWE superstars in the end, and the same few people at the top have final say on the creative direction of both brands. If the WWE decide Styles is moving, he will move, regardless of how unbalanced the trade ultimately seems to us as fans.

But at the same time, WWE do continue to present their TV shows as legitimate sporting contests, and their storylines do call for their shows to appear to be rivals. and it is for this reason that they must do everything possible to ensure that the trades which take place on Monday and Tuesday feel realistic. And if they want to do so, any trade that Raw offers, ultimately, is unlikely to be accepted in a real sport.

Certainly, Raw has several stars who could, conceivably, convince SmackDown to at least entertain an offer for Styles—Brock Lesnar, Finn Bálor, or either of the returning Hardy Boyz spring to mind—but none of these seem to be on the trading block at present, and have compelling reasons not to be. Lesnar is still, ultimately, a part-timer, and would rob the fans of Styles most compelling competitor on Raw, Balor is returning from injury, and has much to prove on the main roster before being put in Styles' category, and the Hardy’s, while they will inevitably be split and moved to competing brands eventually, are more valuable as a tag team at present.

While fans may not embrace it fully, the WWE is also trying to position Roman Reigns as a top star within the company, and creative could certainly write a storyline where such a trade feels realistic, if disappointing for many fans. Yet, while this was, perhaps, originally their intent, the WWE now appear to be once again committing to Reigns as "the guy" on the red brand, teasing a long-term feud with Braun Strowman, before his inevitable title shot against Lesnar.

This, then, only leaves the possibility of uneven trades—trading two or three superstars, like Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe or Sami Zayn for Styles—which presents the only other possible realistic trading scenario, but while realistic, this damages Raw, who, in spite of the clear bias given to them during the original draft, somehow find themselves short on mid-card prospects as it is.

Put simply, the only option is forcing through an unbalanced trade, like Rollins alone for Styles, which would achieve the WWE’s desire to get Styles on Raw, but would not be compelling or believable storytelling.

Leaving Styles on SmackDown, then, presents a far more realistic scenario. Moving Styles, if that remains their goal, can only be done at a later date, perhaps in a full scale re-draft or after Raw re-establishes some of its top stars.

4. Styles turning face makes more sense if he remains on SmackDown

AJ Styles is one of the most compelling and believable performers on the roster. He has had an exceptional run as a heel, but plays a character with developed and nuanced motivations beyond simply being a "bad guy", he can certainly turn those to playing a face just as well.

And in the past week, Styles has hinted at something of a face turn, which only really makes sense if he remains on SmackDown.

Without a doubt, Raw, whose roster is literally full of tweener Superstars—Lesnar, Reigns, Rollins, Strowman and Balor, to name just a few, all resist being categorised according to the traditional face/heel paradigm—would benefit from a face character, yet Styles would likely be another tweener character, at least initially.

However, far more problematic is that Styles-as-face on Raw instantly rules out one of the most obvious storylines he would have on Raw—his reunion with The Club; Gallows and Anderson.

The Club, as a tag team and stable, is by definition, villainous. It demands that they be booked as ruthless and relentless heels who will do anything to win at any cost. Whenever the WWE have attempted to cast them in any other role, Gallows and Anderson lose out. After months of misses in booking the two, the WWE has only just rehabilitated the pair, and aligning them with a face AJ Styles would undo all of that work.

Similarly, leaving Styles as a heel for the sake of this storyline, both flies in the face of recent booking, and ignores fan response to the superstar, both of which suggest that a face turn is inevitable.

In comparison to Raw, SmackDown has had great success with more traditional face and heel characters—John Cena and The Miz, for example, were both frequently derided by the fans prior to the brand split, but have been rehabilitated on Tuesday nights to the point where fans embrace both again, in spite of playing essentially the same traditional face and heel characters they were before.

Styles-as-face makes sense on SmackDown, and indeed, feels like the natural next step in the story they have been telling with him, also maintaining the brand’s fairly even face/heel balance, as Cena takes some time out, and allowing for a number of new compelling stories for their creative team to tell.

5. It’s What The Fans Want

The WWE has a reputation for going against the wishes of their fans, doing the very thing fans hate just to remind them who is in charge. Yet, in spite of continuing to drag their heels over Roman Reigns, this reputation isn’t really fair any more. Indeed, just one week ago, WWE put a title belt on Naomi, in front of her home crowd, seemingly for no other reason than that the fans wanted it.

Indeed, in recent years, we have seen the WWE push dozens of fan-favourites in response to crowd reactions, and heard rumours of regularly adjusted storylines, and changed plans in order to give fans what they demand.

Without question, there are times where they have stuck to their guns, with varying degrees of success, but as Vince McMahon has gotten older, and ceded more control of the company to others, so too has the company seemingly become more ‘fan friendly’ and responsive to their desires.

And there can be no question on the whole—the fans do not want Styles to go to Raw. While there are certainly more than a few Raw fans who want to see the phenomenal one on Monday nights, the overwhelming majority of fans feel that he is a better fit on SmackDown. Moving him would be a slap in the face to the loyal, and committed "smark" fans who tend to prefer SmackDown, while simultaneously re-affirming it as the definite B-brand, in spite of recent ratings and critical wins for the show.

It is a bad decision, that must be resisted.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.