While some fans watching Monday's "WWE Raw" may have beenupset Chris Jericho didn't return after what many perceived as a tease,Bully Ray took issue elsewhere on the show. On "Busted Open Radio," he criticized the segment between GUNTHER and AJ Styles, which saw Styles slap GUNTHER in the face. GUNTHER went forehead-to-forehead withStyles after the slap, but didn't otherwise respond, leading to pushback from the former WWE tag team champion.
"We're building all of this heat on GUNTHER, why do we have to sacrifice any of his heat?" Ray exclaimed. "I'm not even saying GUNTHER should've laid out AJ, but I would rather see GUNTHER act like a typical bully or a heel, and sell the shock of getting smacked ... If you have the wherewithal to go head-to-head with AJ Styles, then you would had the wherewithal to choke him out or punch him back ... That segment felt odd last night."
Bully opined that he doesn't think that GUNTHER is portraying anything beyond a comical heel at this stage, and he questioned how the storyline fits into Styles' final year of pro wrestling. He believes the idea was to sell Styles, who recently lost the World Tag Team Championship he previously held with Dragon Lee, as a viable singles competitor against the man who retired JohnCena.
"At the end of the day, the WWE will always be a babyface territory. So they probably figured 'Well, we have enough heat on Gunther, we have to give AJ [a rub]!'" he noted. "They do have to sell you on AJ Styles, but the way they sold AJ Styles like that? To Gunther's detriment? I just don't agree with that!"
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
