His nickname, well earned, is “Phenomenal†– an adjective that is the only fitting to describe his incredible athleticism and skill inside the wrestling ring.
44. AJ STYLES
Real Name – Allen Jones
Aliases – Mr. Olympia; Prince AJ Styles; Air Styles
Hometown – Gainesville, Georgia
Debuted – February 15, 1999
Titles Held – AAW Heavyweight; Ballpark Brawl Natural Heavyweight; CWE Heavyweight (2x); ETW Heavyweight; IWA Mid-South Heavyweight; IWC Super Indies (2x); IWR King of the Indies; Max-Pro Cruiserweight; MPW Universal Heavyweight; NKPWA Junior Heavyweight; NWA Wildside Heavyweight; NWA Wildside Television (3x); PWG Championship; ROH Pure Wrestling; ROH Tag Team (with Amazing Red); NWA World (3x); NWA World Tag Team (4x – 1 with Jerry Lynn, 1 with Abyss, 2 with Christopher Daniels); TNA World Tag Team (with Tomko); TNA X-Division (6x); WWA International Cruiserweight
Other Accomplishments – First ROH Pure Wrestling champion; first TNA X-Division champion; Three time TNA Triple Crown winner; Mr. TNA in 2003, 2004, and 2005; Winner of TNA Tag Team of the Year award in 2006 (with Christopher Daniels); Winner to TNA Match of the Year award in 2006 (with Christopher Daniels against Homicide and Hernandez)
Coming in at #44 on the Best Wrestlers of the Modern Era is AJ Styles. His nickname, well earned, is “Phenomenal†an adjective that is the only fitting to describe his incredible athleticism and skill inside the wrestling ring.
A former collegiate wrestler, AJ got his start in the business training under Rick Michaels and made a name for himself working for NWA Wildside. Achieving notoriety and a quick push, AJ was signed after a mere two years to WCW. Appearing in a junior tag team for awhile, AJ would not find much success in WCW before it was bought out by WWE, though the exposure would help him land premiere spots in the year to come. Styles then returned to NWA Wildside, winning their heavyweight title.
In 2002, two promotions caused AJ to gain an immediate and huge increase in visibility and quality of opponent. These promotions, for those with a sudden memory lapse, are Ring of Honor and NWA:TNA. In 2002, Styles debuted at ROH’s third show “Honor Invades Boston†where he had a classic match with Low Ki. Throughout 2002 he would challenge for the belt, being unsuccessful in attempts to dethrone Low Ki and, later, Xavier.
In 2002, TNA was a PPV only company. AJ Styles was immediately set up as the chosen man for their X-Division, which was a no-limits cruiser division made to set TNA apart from WWE. AJ, as the high flier with a ton of charisma, immediately became wildly over, winning the X-Title and having great feuds with Low Ki, Jerry Lynn and the Amazing Red. He also managed to win the TNA tag titles during this time, with Jerry Lynn in a short lived partnership.
2003 in ROH was another tag title win for AJ Styles, this time with partner the Amazing Red. Due to injury, Paul London was unable to compete and be AJ’s partner, and this lead to an amazing, one time only match between London and Styles at Night of the Grudges. Meanwhile, Styles and Red feuded with the Briscoes over the tag belts, winning in some great, eye-popping spotfests that only these guys can provide. Red’s eventual injury caused the titles to be vacated. AJ then, again focused on the World Title, but again fell short, this time to Samoa Joe.
In 2003 in TNA, AJ became the first X-Division wrestler to make it to the main stage and won the NWA Title from Jeff Jarrett after turning heel. Losing the title shortly thereafter, he had become a main event player and would remain in the title hunt throughout the year.
2004 was poised to be a big year for AJ, as he had officially become TNA’s one real homegrown talent and was given the ROH Pure Title, becoming the first champion by beating CM Punk. Unfortunately, scandal caused him to have to vacate that title and leave ROH, but he was still in TNA and being pushed to the moon. He began 2004 as a tag champion with Abyss with whom he feuded for much of the early part of the year in great matches, showing he was not only great with juniors, but could put on classics with heavyweights. After this, he was granted a title shot and defeated Jeff Jarrett in a cage, becoming a two time NWA Champion. After several successful defenses, Jarrett again caused AJ to lose the belt and Styles headed back to the X-Division. Once there, AJ immediately became the X-Champion again, and again defended the belt successfully against a new set of challengers like Kazarian and Kid Kash. Kash eventually cost AJ the belt and spent the next several months feuding with Styles, who finally moved on to feud with Hall, Nash and Jarrett to close out the year.
2005 saw AJ win the X-Title again and embark on a classic feud with Chris Daniels. Daniels would eventually win this through chicanery so AJ again went after the World Title, again finding Abyss in his way and again having great matches with TNA’s resident monster. This was just a pit stop for AJ who would become a three time NWA Champion, only to lose that belt, this time in the King of the Mountain gimmick match. AJ went again after the X-Division title. This lead to the best match and feud in TNA history, with Chris Daniels and Samoa Joe (the match was at Unbreakable). He spent the rest of the year battling Joe and Daniels in various combinations, producing great match after great match. Meltzer gave that match five stars. In 2003-2005 AJ was Mr. TNA every year.
In 2005 AJ returned to ROH to face former protégé Jimmy Rave in a series of solid matches. This was good, but failed to set the world on fire, although it was great to see AJ back in ROH.
2006 saw AJ beat one of the best wrestlers in the world Hiroshi Tanahashi in TNA and finished his feud with Daniels and Joe over the X-Title. Styles spent much of the remainder of the year teaming with Chris Daniels and being one-half of the tag team champions. They feuded with, and defeated America’s Most Wanted before moving on to a great, hot rivalry with LAX. Styles then finished 2006 winning the X-Division Title yet again, his fourth time, but didn’t hold it long as he ended up feuding with Daniels again shortly and Rhino for rather longer.
In 2006 ROH, AJ spent much of the year teaming with Matt Sydal to chase Austin Aries and Roderick Strong for the ROH tag titles. They failed in this pursuit, yet had great matches with the Briscoes and tag champions. AJ closed out his ROH tenure with one last match against Samoa Joe in the Summer.
2007 was AJ’s weakest year of the past four or five. He began the year in a midcard feud with Rhino and spent the remainder of the year as Christian Cage and now Kurt Angle’s cowardly comedy lacky. The one minor upshot to this is that he is a tag champion with Tomko in a surprisingly good duo. The team continues to hold the belts at present.
AJ is a stunningly impressive athlete who can have great matches with a variety of opponents. He is TNA’s main and arguably only homegrown star that didn’t originate in ROH or WWE. He’s stuck in a bit of a downward spiral currently, but talent talks, and AJ has talent is among the more talented and athletic wrestlers in the world.
The entire Top 100 Wrestlers feature can be found here.
