|
Post by Cap on Jul 18, 2019 15:34:40 GMT -5
Some people count him as the greatest wrestler of a generation. They are wrong (its Bryan), but it speaks to how good he is and how good he has been for a long time. I am a little surprised by his WWE success honestly, but I am glad for it. He has had big matches with all the biggest stars in the company. Stuff to consider from Styles from all over the place (ROH, TNA, NJPW, and WWE at least)
|
|
|
Post by bossrock on Jul 20, 2019 14:31:11 GMT -5
I would agree that Bryan is the best wrestler of their generation but I would argue A.J. is second and it's not even close. It's unfortunate that the stigma of TNA caused his run there to be so overlooked, because as terrible as his booking could be his in-ring work was consistently very good to great. And not just the stuff with Joe and Daniels, but he had easily the best Bully Ray match I've ever seen in a legitimately great LMS match. His cage match with Abyss seems to be pretty universally regarded and it's probably a top 125-150 match ever for me. Of course that's to say nothing of his work in NJPW which seemed to convince everyone he was the best in the world. And while I think he's starting to slow down juuuuuuust a tad, his work in WWE since his excellent 2016 remains consistently good.
A top 15 candidate for greatest ever.
|
|
|
Post by microstatistics on Aug 6, 2019 0:46:47 GMT -5
Agree Bryan > Styles comfortably but AJ's pre-NJPW run in TNA/ROH is a goldmine. No idea why people used to think he was nothing but a spot monkey. I think his WWE run is easily his worst.
|
|
|
Post by Cap on Aug 6, 2019 6:53:51 GMT -5
Ohhh I love his early TNA and ROH work. I think that is where he really stands out as a different type of athlete and someone who sort of thought differently about wrestling as less a fan and more an athlete with a passing interest in wrestling.
|
|
|
Post by bossrock on Aug 6, 2019 17:59:36 GMT -5
Ohhh I love his early TNA and ROH work. I think that is where he really stands out as a different type of athlete and someone who sort of thought differently about wrestling as less a fan and more an athlete with a passing interest in wrestling. I've never thought of that before but it totally makes sense when you say it. You don't really see a ton of overt influences with A.J. Maybe folks who were somewhat similar, but he feels like very much his own self-made wrestler. That makes a big difference when it feels like so many of today's wrestlers feel like tribute acts.
|
|
|
Post by Cap on Aug 6, 2019 19:43:18 GMT -5
He just feels less ingrained in canonical wrestling than Bryan, Joe, or even Ki. Ki was such an incredibly unique figure of the time drawing so much influence from martial arts and martial arts films, but he still felt like a guy drawing clearly from certain wrestling threads. Those influences are obviously there with Styles, he just never as securely the product of any clear combination of wrestling influences.
|
|