AJ Styles: Is being spotty a bad thing?

[VKM]

People believe that being spotty is a bad thing. People also believe that because AJ is spotty, he isn't a great wrestler. Well here is where those people are wrong at:

The wrestling definition for spotty is someone who preplans their wrestling moves to get a certain reaction from the crowd.Spots can be anything from an Irish Whip at a certain time, to a series of spots, for example a succession of reversals. Wrestlers who choreograph their matches before the show will usually decide on an opening spot and an ending, as well as several spots to use throughout the match. The remainder of the match will be divided between transition moves and general offensive and defensive moves. A high spot is a move that is particularly exciting.

Being spotty is a great thing and anybody smart would know that it reduces the number of botches in your match. Just because AJ spots alot, does'nt mean that he's not a great wrestler. AJ only spots because if he didn't most of his opponents wouldnt be able to keep up. By him being spotty, his opponent will be able to react to his spots and sell the match very effective. If AJ didn't spot, how would the wrestler not know what move AJ would do next. If you haven't noticed, almost every match in WWE and TNA has spots in it. If they did'nt, the matches would be botched terribly.

Discuss...

[JLeeDude1892]

Calling spots are a great thing, those are the impact moves of a match, that create a chant, or a pop of some sort for the wrestlers. AJ is a very good wrestler, one of the best of this day in age. Just because you choreograph certain moves in a match doesn't mean that a botch won't happen. They still happen a lot of the time. Literally every single wrestler uses spots, they're great because as was said, they appeal to the crowd and get a pop.

[Nay_Than]

Without spots, it wouldnt be wrestling and the business would be near enough non existent.

[Robstar]

Just need some

like
and

Should clear those spots right up

[Hesterica]

The problem with spotty wrestling (not criticizing AJ, he's awesome, but am criticizing the style of being spotty) is that it takes away the essence or the special feeling of a good ole spot. If you watch a 10 minute match with 9 minutes of flying around, it makes it less special. The "umph" or "holy shit" factor is taken away. After watching the 450 splash and shooting star press in the same match, a suicide dive doesn't look/feel that awesome anymore.

A good example. I watched a couple of hardcore wrestling DVD's in a row. After the 3rd DVD, the impact of chairshots, fire, tumbtacks, they weren't there anymore. I think this is where WWE hit the nail on the head. They know when to pull out the high spots in limited fashion to keep people guessing and easily surprise them.

Just my opinion.

[Necroyeti]

Being considered a spot monkey isn't so much about doing loads of choreographed spots.... it's more about doing loads of choreographed spots as opposed to strong psychology or selling offense in an attempt to get yourself over. Sure, AJ has a very large arsenal of pretty looking moves and you can say he's mega-over because of them, but at least they usually crop up in his matches at times where it makes sense to use them. Like, you'd rarely see him dish out pele kicks willy nilly in the middle of a match, but rather as a last resort maneuver.

Compare an AJ Styles match to, say, a Jack Evans match. Or a Teddy Hart match. Or practically any midcard lucha libre match. You'll see that AJ is not so spotty after all.

And another slightly related point:
Something that seems to throw a lot of people that first get into indy wrestling and puro etc is when they repeatedly kick out of each others "finishing maneuvers", since most of us has been led to believe that a finisher is like an insta-kill from years of watching WWE. It's a good way to do things, but occasionally various companies and wrestlers (eg. Davey Richards) will overdo this "FIGHTING SPIRIT~~~" spot and thus longer matches will turn into massive finisher-fests towards their finish. TNA can be a big offender in this department during title matches and main events (Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle have been especially notorious for it in their TNA runs) and it may seem a little strange if you've only ever seen WWE before. It can be mistaken for spotmonkeyism, I guess

[The Brown One]

People believe that being spotty is a bad thing. People also believe that because AJ is spotty, he isn't a great wrestler. Well here is where those people are wrong at:

The wrestling definition for spotty is someone who preplans their wrestling moves to get a certain reaction from the crowd.Spots can be anything from an Irish Whip at a certain time, to a series of spots, for example a succession of reversals. Wrestlers who choreograph their matches before the show will usually decide on an opening spot and an ending, as well as several spots to use throughout the match. The remainder of the match will be divided between transition moves and general offensive and defensive moves. A high spot is a move that is particularly exciting.

Being spotty is a great thing and anybody smart would know that it reduces the number of botches in your match. Just because AJ spots alot, does'nt mean that he's not a great wrestler. AJ only spots because if he didn't most of his opponents wouldnt be able to keep up. By him being spotty, his opponent will be able to react to his spots and sell the match very effective. If AJ didn't spot, how would the wrestler not know what move AJ would do next. If you haven't noticed, almost every match in WWE and TNA has spots in it. If they did'nt, the matches would be botched terribly.

Discuss...

Thanks for doing some research on the definition of spots in wrestling. You put it very well, and like Necro also said, if you compare someone like Teddy Hart, to AJ, you'l notice that Teddy is a spot machine. AJ does them too, but not nearly as frequent.

[VKM]

Being considered a spot monkey isn't so much about doing loads of choreographed spots.... it's more about doing loads of choreographed spots as opposed to strong psychology or selling offense in an attempt to get yourself over. Sure, AJ has a very large arsenal of pretty looking moves and you can say he's mega-over because of them, but at least they usually crop up in his matches at times where it makes sense to use them. Like, you'd rarely see him dish out pele kicks willy nilly in the middle of a match, but rather as a last resort maneuver.

Compare an AJ Styles match to, say, a Jack Evans match. Or a Teddy Hart match. Or practically any midcard lucha libre match. You'll see that AJ is not so spotty after all.

And another slightly related point:
Something that seems to throw a lot of people that first get into indy wrestling and puro etc is when they repeatedly kick out of each others "finishing maneuvers", since most of us has been led to believe that a finisher is like an insta-kill from years of watching WWE. It's a good way to do things, but occasionally various companies and wrestlers (eg. Davey Richards) will overdo this "FIGHTING SPIRIT~~~" spot and thus longer matches will turn into massive finisher-fests towards their finish. TNA can be a big offender in this department during title matches and main events (Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle have been especially notorious for it in their TNA runs) and it may seem a little strange if you've only ever seen WWE before. It can be mistaken for spotmonkeyism, I guess

I never thought of it that way. In that case, AJ isn't spotty at all. That makes so much sense now that you brong up Jack Evans or Teddy Hart.