44-year-old AEW star should have held the WWE Championship for AJ Styles, says former writer
AJ Styles is among the renowned wrestlers of the business that weren't brought up by WWE. Despite all of the doubts about whether the former IMPACT/TNA star would ever be treated as a credible contender for the top prize of the Titanland when he arrived back in 2016, Styles became world champion twice thus far.
His second reign as WWE Champion was for a full calendar year between late 2017 to 2018. During this time, he had a remarkable summer feud with his longtime rival, Samoa Joe.
Road Dogg, who was one of the writers for WWE at the time, recently revealed on his podcast, Oh... You Didn't Know that AJ Styles was his favorite champion. However, he disclosed that he wanted to put the strap on Samoa Joe while The Phenomenal One is presented as the challenger in their feud:
"I mean, I loved having it [the title on Styles], [but] I'd rather have it on Samoa Joe during that time and have AJ kind of chasing," said Road Dogg. [H/T: Wrestling Inc]
AJ Styles and Samoa Joe have been on opposite ends way before they signed to the Stamford-based promotion. It was a surreal moment for those fans who followed their careers prior to seeing them compete in a WWE ring.
Road Dogg speculates why WWE did not put the strap on Samoa Joe
Vince McMahon was still largely involved in the creative decisions in the Tens. According to the Hall of Famer, the former chairman was always a "babyface champion guy."
Road Dogg feels that had something to do with why Samoa Joe didn't win the company's top prize, along with the fact that the latter was injury-prone.
"I know Vince was high on him and I know Hunter was high on him," Road Dogg said. "It just makes me think there was something medical that wasn't out there or something that was a reason he went away and came back, I don't know the answer to that. He went pretty high, he just didn't win the title, you know what I mean?" [H/T: Wrestling Inc.]
Joe had high-profile storylines against top stars such as Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns, among others. He even held the NXT and the United States Championship during his run with the global juggernaut. At present, he is the ROH World Television Champion in AEW.
Read about what is the "unspoken agreement" Samoa Joe has with Brock Lesnar. The duo had a much-raved feud in the summer of 2017.
Did you enjoy Samoa Joe's rivalry with AJ Styles for the WWE Championship? Sound off in the comments section below.