The evidence that PUA works is largely anecdotal. A lot of people claim that one shouldn't believe in acupuncture based on anecdotal evidence.

PUA however is a theory that plays well with other reductionist beliefs while acupuncture doesn't.

I think the following two are open questions: Given the same amount of approaches, does a guy who has read PUA theories have higher success of getting laid?

If the man has a goal to have a fulfilling long term relationship with an attractive woman, is it benefitial for him to go down the PUA road?

The evidence for the status hypothesis is also relatively weak.

Being reductionist does have nothing to do with being realist. Being reductionist brings you problem when you are faced with a system that's more complex than your model. In biology students get taught these days that even when you know all parts of a system you don't necessarily know what the system does. That reductionism is wrong and that you actually need real evidence for theories such as the status hypothesis.