Tommy Platinum

Just to clarify before people get angry, I'm not saying this is anything AJ has done wrong. He's still a great wrestler and SHOULD still be producing regular MOTYCs, that's the whole point of this.

Is there anybody else who's talent-quality matches ratio is as bad as AJ's? He is often considered one of the wrestlers of the decade, the best wrestler is TNA history, the man who has carried the company etc, and yet in the last say, 3 years, I can only think of one great AJ Styles match, that being the Last Man Standing match against Angle from 2008 (the PPV name escapes me). Obviously I am not stating my opinion as a fact. I'm making this thread to see if others agree with me, but personally I don't think he has produced nearly as many notable matches as he should have over the past few years because he is stuck in TNA, where great matches are apparently a thing of the past.

I'm not even talking about AJ being "held down" as such. A lot claim he should be World Champ and is held down by all TNA's famous signings, but that's not the issue here for me. The issue is that this guy is one of the best wrestlers in the world and isn't producing any quality matches because he doesn't get the chance to. I was watching some of his 2005 stuff and he was phenomenal with guys like Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels etc. He was phenomenal in the team with Daniels taking on teams like AMW and LAX. Obviously way back in the early days he was phenomenal against guys like Low Ki, Jerry Lynn and Amazing Red. Is AJ phenomenal now? It's hard for him to do anything when he is facing guys like Matt Morgan, Kevin Nash and Sting. Despite a lot of talented guys on the roster (AJ, MCMG, Joe, Homicide etc, although the roster is sometimes overrated) it's pretty terrible that as a company, TNA so rarely produces good matches, and AJ Styles, the man who everybody acknowledges as the best in the company, is the best example of this.

The reason he is the biggest wasted talent is that we all know what he's capable of. We all know that with decent opponents in a decent company he would be phenomenal once more. Imagine him in WWE for example. A lot of people say he would be watered down etc, but I'd sure as hell rather see AJ versus guys like Christian, Jericho, Punk, Matt Hardy, Cena, Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, Evan Bourne, Dolph Ziggler etc, in a company that actually produces good matches on a regular basis, and great ones from time to time. It's sad to think what he could be elsewhere, and what he is in TNA.

Do you agree that AJ is a wasted talent? Do you think he would put on far more great matches elsewhere, or do you believe that TNA still put on great matches and AJ has been in some of them over the last couple of years? If so, examples plz.

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Sir Nicky Talent

Watch some of his PWG and ROH stuff because he's really given the chance to amaze in these matches, and even does a great job of putting his opponent over. And it also totally proves your point.

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Tommy Platinum

He doesn't still wrestle outside TNA right... or does he?

I've seen some of his ROH stuff from around 2006, and he was pretty great then.

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Sir Nicky Talent

No. Ever since they pulled their talent, the indy participation has been limited. MCMG's do appearances, of course.

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Tommy Platinum

Yeah I was pretty sure he hadn't. I know MCMG have done a few appearances since TNA pulled the talent but I didn't think anybody else had. Shame because I'm quite sure AJ Styles would pull out better matches there than he has in TNA for quite some time.

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Crest Fall

Honestly, I've never been all that big of an AJ fan, but considering how many others like him I cannot even begin to comprehend why they don't use him properly.

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Sir Nicky Talent

Yeah. And he's not in a good part of the company where he can redeem himself, because he's got to face shit talent in shit circumstances for a shit company.

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Tommy Platinum

Supposedly he's going to retire Sting at Bound For Glory. Yes, that would be big, but that would just be another example of AJ Styles' abilities going to waste on the big stage, because Sting is fucking awful now and there's no way even AJ can get a good match out of him, even in those circumstances.

ZC, what don't you like about him? Have you seen what is considered his best stuff?

I honestly think TNA do not give a shit about putting on good matches anymore. They're not a wrestling company.

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Crest Fall

Not denying his talent at all, I've just never been too big of a fan. He's not really the sort of person that could turn a poor feud/storyline into a good one (or at least be a bright spot) in my view unlike some others that come to mind. I've never found him to be a very exciting character or talker, but then again the booking hasn't really been doing him any favors for the last couple of years. I think a guy like CM Punk could make a feud with Booker T interesting, while I don't think AJ is capable of something like that. I think he really needs good opponents to work with and a nice storyline or else it's just mindlessly repetitive and uninteresting. I've no idea what I'm trying to say, so I'll just say I've never been too big of a fan. Still, I think it's insane that he's not among the top draws for the company and hasn't held the World belt since 2005.

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Y 2 Jake

I just don't think A.J. Styles is that great. As much as I like him I think he's grossly overrated. He hasn't had a great match in years. People might say it's bad booking, but he made his name in TNA where for 90% of the time the promotion has been boooked poorly.

He's in the perfect promotion for his talent. WWE wouldn't let him do half the stuff that makes him a favorite and it'd probably highlight how poor his persona is. TNA give him free reign and so long as he's in that promotion people will always think he deserves better. Which isn't a bad thing.

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