IIRC he was pretty old when he took the throne, 65 or so, so was bound to have a pretty short reign. I think an interesting scenario is if he took power instead of Alexius, possibly because of his anti-western leanings. He would attack the westerners and re-orient politics back to the east, be available to fight off the invasions that occured during Alexius IIs reign and when he went crazy later on could be deposed by the now 15 year old Alexius II. Alexius II may be able to steer a middle path between east and west.