5 reasons why AJ Styles should move to Monday Night RAW in 2019
AJ Styles' second reign as WWE Champion ended in an appalling fashion as the 371-days reign ended in a shocking heel turn by Daniel Bryan.
A wrestler adored by many top hardcore wrestling fans who never main evented a dual-branded PPV still stole the show by producing breath-taking matches in his title defenses. His 2nd championship reign ended as the 4th longest reign in the modern era, next to CM Punk's 434-day reign.
As per reports, AJ Styles pushed the idea of dropping the title to Bryan due to his new contract with WWE where he wants a 3-year reduced schedule with fewer house shows, but WWE wants him to sign a 5-year full-time schedule contract.
The streak of working 32 consecutive PPVs by AJ Styles ended as AJ was booked to face Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series 2018. However, with AJ requiring more 'family time' in his upcoming journey in WWE, the script probably changed in the dying stages of Survivor Series.
After the dream match versus Shinsuke Nakamura in WrestleMania 34, AJ's character probably got a bit staler as he defended his title against Nakamura, Rusev, and Samoa Joe consecutively. After the brand split in 2016, AJ Styles carried SmackDown Live as a main-card wrestler with his exhilarating feuds and championship reigns.
SmackDown Live is still known as 'The House That AJ Styles Built'. However, a move to Monday nights could possibly uplift AJ Styles' career in the WWE.
#5 It won't affect SmackDown Live's viewership
SmackDown Live has had the tag-line of 'The Land of Opportunities' for a couple of years, and has countless reasons to justify the tag-line. One out of many reasons is because the authority figures have less involvement in the storylines, whereas RAW is still stuck in storylines involving disputes with the authority.
SmackDown Live has a lot of superstars in their line-up who are championship worthy. While SmackDown fans desire to see The Miz, Samoa Joe, Andrade 'Cien' Almas and even possibly Finn Bálor (who could move to SmackDown after the next Superstar Shake-up), RAW would probably need someone who can carry the main-eventer status after Roman Reigns' departure due to illness.
SmackDown Live can still grab views with a new face that runs the place. Even when they decided to push Jinder Mahal from a low carder to WWE title holder, the ratings didn't see any sort of decline. Fans thoroughly enjoyed the feud between Mahal and Randy Orton, being pretty much happy with the booking.
With the creative taking bold risks in their storylines repeatedly, SmackDown Live still have a plethora of talents who produce high quality matches. Thus, it shouldn't hinder their viewership at all.