Jim Ross Says It Would Be ‘Ill-Advised’ To Make AJ Styles An Old-School Heel At WrestleMania

In Jim Ross’ latest blog, he discussed many aspects from this past week’s Smackdown Live including the confusing finish between Apollo Crew and Dolph Ziggler, Becky Lynch and Natalya’s ongoing feud, and the two-man announce team dynamic.

One subject he covered in some detail of course, was the recent development in the AJ Styles and Shane McMahon saga. This story came to a boiling point during the two-hour live broadcast when AJ Styles famously jumped Shane-O-Mac in the parking garage and pummeled him all over the enclosed parking structure. McMahon’s head ended up going through a car window, and he bled all over the place. But he ironically didn’t bleed on his white shirt, which is a good thing because those stains would have been hell to get out.

“Enjoyed the AJ Styles content on SD Live and am not one to take issue with AJ’s booking at Wrestlemania versus Shame McMahon. AJ’s greatness will shine through in Orlando on April 2 and Shane’s alpha male personality will push him to be better than he likely actually is. This will end up being a better booking than many perceive plus it was, as the creative worked its way out, the best available option for, arguably, the best in ring talent in the world, AJ Styles, which is a whole other story. I look forward to watching these two do all that’s humanly possible to steal the show in Orlando.”

“Nonetheless, I find that it could well be ill advised to try to hard to make AJ the old school villain in this matter. That’s not happening with today’s fans especially at Wrestlemania. The good news is that it isn’t necessary to have AJ the ‘heel’ as the personal issue is enough.”

“BTW…in hindsight I would have nixed the camera inside the car Shane was driving as that sort of took me out of the moment.”

Good Ol’ JR is totally correct in his observation (as usual) and we here at Still Real To Us respect his opinion thoroughly. The match at Mania between The Face That Runs The Place and the Shane McMahon will undoubtedly end up being way better than most people expect. We also agree booking Styles as such a solid heel in this program isn’t the best move either because there are so many fans who will follow him to whatever side of the roster (or brand) he jumps over to.

On another note, we’re very glad JR noticed the absurdity in cutting to a camera inside the car Shane’s head smashed through. That was indeed a ridiculous bit of editing right there.