page_title: A.J. Styles
section_title: New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2014–2016)
hierarchical_section_title: A.J. Styles / Professional wrestling career / New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2014–2016)
caption_attribution_description: English: AJ Styles as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion at a Ring of Honor event in May 2014.
context_page_description: Allen Neal Jones is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name AJ Styles He is overall a twenty-seven time world champion.
  Styles debuted in 1998 and competed for various independent promotions, before gaining his first mainstream exposure in World Championship Wrestling in 2001. From 2002 to 2014, he became widely known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, who described him as "the cornerstone of the company since the inception in 2002". Within that organization, Styles held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times and the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice, and was the inaugural titleholder of the X Division Championship, which he won six times. Styles is the first professional wrestler to complete the TNA Triple Crown and the TNA Grand Slam. He simultaneously appeared in Ring of Honor from 2002–2006, where he became the inaugural ROH Pure Champion. In 2014, Styles signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, later winning it a second time and becoming the third leader of the Bullet Club stable.
context_section_description: For the first time since the TNA-NJPW partnership in 2008, on March 27, 2014, it was reported that Styles would return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling and had signed a contract with the company. Styles' return came on April 6 at Invasion Attack, where he attacked IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada after his match and laid him out with the Styles Clash and challenged Okada to a title match, before revealing himself as the newest member of Bullet Club, establishing himself as a villain in the process. Following Invasion Attack, with Styles still working a full schedule on the American independent circuit and only booked to work NJPW's larger events, Karl Anderson was positioned as the new leader of Bullet Club. However, Styles was considered the leader of the Ring of Honor (ROH) version of Bullet Club, a role which was also given to him by NJPW by the end of 2015. Styles wrestled his first match under a New Japan contract on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku, where he defeated Okada with help from Yujiro Takahashi to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. With this victory, Styles became the sixth gaijin (non-Japanese) champion in the title's history and the first American champion since Brock Lesnar in 2005. The win also made Styles the shortest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history. On May 17, Styles made his first successful title defense in a three-way match with Okada and Michael Elgin at the NJPW/ROH co-produced War of the Worlds event in New York City. On May 25 at Back to the Yokohama Arena, Styles defeated Okada for his second successful title defense. Styles suffered his first loss in NJPW on July 21, when he was defeated by Okada in his first match in the 2014 G1 Climax tournament. Out of his nine remaining matches in the tournament, Styles lost only one, but failed to advance to the finals due to his loss against Okada in the head-to-head match. On October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Styles lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi in his third defense, after the returning Yoshitatsu stopped Bullet Club's newest member, Jeff Jarrett, from interfering in the match.
  On November 8 at Power Struggle, Styles defeated Yoshitatsu with help from Jarrett and after the match was confronted by Tetsuya Naito. During the match, Yoshitatsu legitimately broke his neck on a botched Styles Clash in which he tucked his head, leading to NJPW pushing Styles as a "killer" and the Styles Clash as a controversial maneuver. Later in the month, Styles entered the 2014 World Tag League, alongside Yujiro Takahashi. Despite a win over the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions, Bullet Club stablemates Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, Styles and Takahashi failed to advance from their block with a record of four wins and three losses due to losing to Kazuchika Okada and Yoshi-Hashi on the final day. Styles and Naito faced off in a match on January 4, 2015 at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where Styles was victorious. On January 6, 2015, Styles inserted himself back into the IWGP Heavyweight Championship picture, when he pinned Tanahashi in an eight-man tag team match, setting up a title match between the two at The New Beginning in Osaka. On February 11, Styles defeated Tanahashi to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the second time. Styles made his first title defense on April 5 at Invasion Attack, where he defeated 2015 New Japan Cup winner Kota Ibushi. His five-month reign ended in his second defense on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, where he was defeated by Kazuchika Okada. From July 20 to August 14, Styles took part in the 2015 G1 Climax. Styles entered the final day with a chance to advance from his block, but a loss against Hiroshi Tanahashi cost him a spot in the finals, giving him a record of six wins and three losses. On October 12 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Styles received a rematch for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but was again defeated by Okada.
  In November, Styles entered the IWGP Intercontinental Championship picture by challenging Shinsuke Nakamura to a title match. Later that month, Styles wa
caption: Styles as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion in May 2014
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