AJ Styles, the New Daniel Bryan?

It’s been a long eight months since Daniel Bryan has competed in the squared circle, leaving many die-hard WWE fans thirsty for a “underdog,” a competitor with a lengthy Indy wrestling back round with nothing but odds against them. Although many wrestlers fit this description, wrestlers the likes of Ambrose, Owens, and Rollins have already achieved a plethora of achievements in the WWE, it doesn’t mean the hunkering for someone “new” isn’t there.

With Bryan being rumored to never wrestle again, the WWE fans need a true loved “face” to carry the company through what looks like a rough future. Someone who doesn’t fit the muscular cliché that is the chairman’s favorite option. With injury’s plaguing the WWE’s main roster, a chiseled in-ring veteran is needed to carry the “load” and that man is the phenomenal one, AJ Styles.

There is a curse within top WWE wrestlers who are clean faces that are pushed to be crowd favorites. Recently, the WWE has pushed Roman Reigns to highlight the company, the only problem with that is he is not over. Reigns is booed relentlessly by the WWE fans for good reason. He is made so scripted in promos it has become crystal clear. Promos should be emotional and genuine, not un-witted pabulum that some inaccessible, ignorant member of WWE creative thought would have a wrestling fan base find amusing. His bookings have been terrible, countless rematches that hold no basis in the plot of the story. The hypothetical stock of WWE storyline has been plummeting for the past year, if it doesn’t get better, and if its main protagonist is a booed relentlessly, the WWE might fall so low in ratings, it would resemble circa 2001 WCW.

So, the main question…. How do we fix this? Well, there’s plenty of ways going into one of the biggest WrestleMania’s of all time. Pull the trigger and push a specific superstar to glory. The reception Styles achieved at the Rumble was monumental- it should be a sign to the WWE that this guy is incredibly marketable. It’s certain that Styles won’t be in the WWE title picture for WrestleMania, maybe not even for Summerslam. But in the meantime, the WWE needs to make him look like a million bucks. While it’s clear to the IWC that this guy is wrestling’s safe haven, to the new viewer who has no idea who Styles is, he needs to have highlight match after highlight match and gain the support of the WWE universe just like Bryan did. There’s plenty of worthy competitors for Styles to face at WrestleMania, Styles match needs to be the “show-stealer” of the night. Whether he faces Owens, Jericho or even The Undertaker at Wrestlemania, Styles must shine.