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Post by mlev76 on Nov 18, 2018 8:34:12 GMT -5
Seems unlikely he repeats as number one this year given that he doesn't even have a thread and it's mid-November. And he definitely shouldn't-he has for sure declined since last year. With that said, I enjoyed his matches with Nakamura and Joe more than it seems most did. The title loss to Bryan was very good and he certainly has enough to make my top 50. He's on the wrong side of 40 and is now increasing his singles matches, so I expect his stuff to decline even further over the next few years unless he severely cuts back (which would likely mean him leaving WWE).
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Post by bossrock on Nov 19, 2018 19:42:52 GMT -5
It certainly hasn't been a great year for A.J, although I don't necessarily think there's been any sort of decline in his overall game. It's just when you end up wrestling Nakamura and Joe for a third of the year, you're not likely to get a ton of 4+ star matches. That being said, I thought the Nakamura matches were pretty good overall and the Superstar Showdown match with Joe was the only match I can think of that was legitimately bad. A.J. has delivered to some extent in nearly every other match this year, he just doesn't have enough for a top 50 spot.
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ed
Junior Member
Posts: 57
Pronoun: He/Him
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Post by ed on Nov 22, 2018 9:17:02 GMT -5
I feel like the AJ is declining in his ability narrative just because he's not having as great a year as he did in his WOTYC level 2016 is harsh and one that I'm gonna need to see more evidence of before I think there's much truth to it. To me the reason why AJ doesn't have as many great matches this year is down to his booking. How are you gonna get a great match out of a 2 on 1 handicap with Steenerico who care more about Shane McMahon? how are you gonna get a great match out of a 6 way featuring Corbin, Owens and Ziggler featuring even more Shane McMahon interference, how are you supposed to get great matches out of a 6 match series with minimal effort WWE Nakamura featuring low blows and draws? The poor fucker is having an anchor tied to his feet in shitty opponents and shitty agenting of his matches. As much as I like the Joe matches, that's again another series of matches where the inconclusive finishes take something away from the action as well as the god awful Wendy storyline.
I think AJ managing to get 'good but not great' matches out of bad scenarios deserves more credit than random wrestler X having a great year because he was in Block B of the G1 or Block A of the CC etc and got the chances to have the great matches you'd expect them to have. AJ's been one of the best TV workers for WWE this year with good-very good matches on TV with Cena, Almas, Rusev, The Usos and Bryan. In fact the Bryan matches are borderline great.
No AJ isn't a top 10 contender for this, but I really can't name many people in WWE I'd have above him for the WDKW100 and I think it's crazy to use matches against Nakamura as evidence to say he's not a great wrestler anymore because no-one has great matches with that guy. He's still a tremendous wrestler and I think the next match with Bryan is going to silence a few critics on that matter.
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Post by bossrock on Nov 22, 2018 10:39:38 GMT -5
I feel like the AJ is declining in his ability narrative just because he's not having as great a year as he did in his WOTYC level 2016 is harsh and one that I'm gonna need to see more evidence of before I think there's much truth to it. To me the reason why AJ doesn't have as many great matches this year is down to his booking. How are you gonna get a great match out of a 2 on 1 handicap with Steenerico who care more about Shane McMahon? how are you gonna get a great match out of a 6 way featuring Corbin, Owens and Ziggler featuring even more Shane McMahon interference, how are you supposed to get great matches out of a 6 match series with minimal effort WWE Nakamura featuring low blows and draws? The poor fucker is having an anchor tied to his feet in shitty opponents and shitty agenting of his matches. As much as I like the Joe matches, that's again another series of matches where the inconclusive finishes take something away from the action as well as the god awful Wendy storyline. I think AJ managing to get 'good but not great' matches out of bad scenarios deserves more credit than random wrestler X having a great year because he was in Block B of the G1 or Block A of the CC etc and got the chances to have the great matches you'd expect them to have. AJ's been one of the best TV workers for WWE this year with good-very good matches on TV with Cena, Almas, Rusev, The Usos and Bryan. In fact the Bryan matches are borderline great. No AJ isn't a top 10 contender for this, but I really can't name many people in WWE I'd have above him for the WDKW100 and I think it's crazy to use matches against Nakamura as evidence to say he's not a great wrestler anymore because no-one has great matches with that guy. He's still a tremendous wrestler and I think the next match with Bryan is going to silence a few critics on that matter. Yeah, I think this pretty much nails it. I also still have a ton of his TV work to catch up on but it really seems that A.J's been stuck making the most out of situations almost everyone else would struggle with.
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