AJ Styles And WWE Championship Overlooked on SmackDown

After a white hot end to 2017, it appeared as if 2018 would be the year for AJ Styles.  But so far most of the way into 2018, Styles and his WWE Championship have been booked as an afterthought despite The Phenomenal One’s popularity.

So far this year there have been six co-branded pay per views, and of those six, AJ Styles has main evented none of them. The most puzzling part of this equation is that Styles at the very least is one of the two most popular babyfaces in the company.

Then factor in that Styles is the holder of the most prestigious championship in WWE, the WWE Championship. The counter to that might be the fact that Vince McMahon considers the Universal Championship as the real top championship in the company.

The problem with that argument is that the past three co-branded pay per views have not featured Brock Lesnar and his Universal Championship. Which means despite the absence of the championship that Vince might consider number one in his company, the WWE Championship and its title holder have been left out of the main event scene.

When broken down it is clear that the matches that have replaced Styles’ WWE Championship defenses have not been better alternatives, at least looking at potential stakes of the matches. At WWE Backlash 2018 there was Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns a non-title match with nothing at stake besides pride.

Then at WWE Money in the Bank 2018, the male Money in the Bank ladder match went on last. In theory, that could have been for a potential shot at the WWE Championship, so we’ll let it slide. Finally, at WWE Extreme Rules 2018, Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship would close the show.

Arguments can be made individually for each match maybe getting the main event spotlight, but it is impossible to justify the WWE Championship being defended on the mid-card in all three instances. There is a clear elephant in the room and that is Vince will consider WWE Raw his “A show” then, now, and forever.

Two of the three examples listed above were Raw superstars main eventing, and the other one was Money in the Bank where a Raw superstar, Braun Strowman was victorious. Maybe the four major pay per views having Raw superstars in the main event should be expected, but when the Universal Champion is absent in between those events, the WWE Championship should be put in the spotlight.

What is even more puzzling is the choice of cover athlete for WWE 2K19, AJ Styles. The puzzling part is not that WWE chose Styles. Rather, it is the fact that the company chose Styles and have not featured him prominently on their product.

It is clear that Raw has been favored over WWE SmackDown Live, but now in the build to Summerslam, it appears as if Styles’ match might be priority number three for the blue brand. While a match with Joe would certainly be huge to most long time wrestling fans, the past couple weeks have seen the Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton and Miz vs. Daniel Bryan feuds close the show.

It is almost as if WWE is in denial to how big of a star Styles actually is. Remember, Styles is the one superstar who broke the duelling “Let’s go Cena, Cena sucks” chants and turned them into “Let’s go Cena, AJ Styles” instead.

More from Daily DDT

• It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
• Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
• Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
• Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
• Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline

The other disturbing concern, is the devaluing of the WWE Championship, which has dipped below the level that the blue brand’s old top championship, the World Heavyweight Championship, was considered.

The reason one could only guess is that at one point the World Heavyweight Championship had more Vince McMahon guys battling it out like Batista, Undertaker, and Triple H, compared to Styles, Joe, and Shinsuke Nakamura recently with the WWE Championship.

As big of names as those first three are, you could actually make an argument that if you ask fans all around the world they might tell you that the last three names are bigger. Yet again, this isn’t about who and what the fans value, it is about what one man wants.

While it is clear that Vince is more emotionally invested in Raw, he should open his eyes and realize that he is letting two special commodities in Styles and the WWE Championship sit in the shadows.