AJ Styles

**AJ Styles** is a Professional Wrestler currently signed to No Limits Wrestling (NLW). He has previously held the Money in the Bank briefcase, the Hardcore Championship, and the NLW World Championship. He holds the record for the second longest NLW World Champion with his reign spanning from 2015 to 2017.

## Wrestling Career

### Hardcore Championship (2012-2013)

AJ Styles would debut at the PPV Intensity after Mr Kennedy's match with Carlito. On Episode 5, AJ Styles would attack Kennedy with the Styles Clash after Kennedy's match with Tommy Dreamer. The next week AJ Styles would compete to become the first ever Intercontinental Champion. Both Styles and Carlito would be dumped out by Mr Kennedy. The next week on the Roulette edition of NLW, Mr Kennedy and Styles would face off for the Hardcore Championship, but Mr Kennedy would roll him up for the win. Carlito, Chris Benoit, and Styles would surround Kennedy. At Breakdown, AJ Styles would compete for the Hardcore Championship once again, however, this would be an Ultimate X match. Styles would win and become the Hardcore Champion. Kennedy would defeat Benoit and Carlito to become #1 Contender. AJ Styles would defeat The Miz the next week. After the match, Kennedy would assault Styles with a camera. At Uprising AJ Styles would defeat Mr Kennedy in an I Quit Match. After Kennedy said "I quit", Styles would dive off a ladder onto a table which held Kennedy. The next episode, AJ Styles would retain his title against Kevin Nash after diving off stairs. Immediately after the match, Hardcore Holly would return and attack AJ Styles. The next week, Holly and Styles would face off in a match for the Hardcore Championship. Holly would beat Styles after pinning him down on a Pepsi machine. Styles would fail to regain his championship against Hardcore Holly at the Royal Rumble. Styles would enter the Royal Rumble at #10 and lasted 13 minuted only to be eliminated by Batista.

### Money In the Bank (2014-2015)

AJ Styles suffered an undisclosed injury after the Royal Rumble, putting him out of action for a few months. AJ Styles would return to NLW on episode 16 in March of 2014 facing Chris Jericho in a MITB qualifying match, defeating him. The next week, all of the competitors in the MITB ladder match would face off in the ring (Kane, Mr Kennedy, The Miz, Sin Cara, and AJ Styles himself). AJ Styles would talk about the Miz complaining he wasn't champion. CM Punk would make his debut, declaring he would be the 6th competitor. The next episode, Mr Kennedy would defeat Styles due to distraction from Miz. AJ Styles would attempt to save CM Punk from Miz and Kennedy, but failed. Sin Cara would finally take out Miz and Kennedy. On the go home show, AJ Styles, CM Punk, and Sin Cara would face Miz, Mr Kennedy, and Kane, with the face team winning. At Wrestlemania, Styles would win the Money In the Bank breifcase. The night after Wrestlemania, AJ Styles defeated the World Champion Triple H after distraction from Shawn Michaels. Two Episodes later, AJ Styles would defeat Kane but not without putting his feet on the ropes. Styles would again defeat Kane on The Destruction Pre-show. The night after Destruction, Kurt Angle would make an open challenge, which Styles would accept. The next week, Styles and Angle would defeat Chavo and Hernandez, a call back to TNA Bound For Glory 2012. After the match, Styles would refuse to shake Kurt Angle's hand, building tension. At Over The Limit, Styles would fail to end Kurt Angle's streak. After the match, AJ Styles would smack CM Punk with his briefcase, cementing his heel turn.

NLW would return in January of 2015. On the return episode, AJ Styles would compete in a fatal four way #1 contenders match against Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, and CM Punk. CM Punk would get his revenge on Styles from Over The Limit. On the Cross the Line special, AJ Styles would compete in a battle royal to determine the first ever X-Division Champion, he would be eliminated by Billy Kidman while having the tarantula on Austin Aries. The next week, AJ Styles and CM Punk would face the Tag Champions Big Show and Kevin Nash. The contest would end after Styles abandoned Punk while Nash would hit the jacknife powerbomb on Punk for the win. On the go home show before Sacrifice, CM Punk and AJ Styles would brawl, which would result in the entire locker room breaking it up. CM Punk and AJ Styles would face off at Sacrifice, the match ended after Styles hit Punk with a super Styles clash for the win. The night after, Styles would cut a promo before being interrupted by Shawn Michaels. AJ Styles would slap HBK across the face before receiving a superkick. AJ Styles would face Hernandez on episode 31. Michaels would distract Styles which costed him the match. AJ Styles would face off with AJ Styles on Metal episode 8, he would hit HBK with his briefcase, then he would receive a Superkick for his troubles. AJ Styles would defeat Shawn Michaels with his own finisher while Michaels was in mid-air.

### NLW World Champion (2015-2017)

On the episode after Heatwave, AJ Styles was about to face Shawn Michaels in a rematch, before the nWo would attack Michaels and Styles. Later in the night after Sting's match with CM Punk, Styles would finally cash in on Sting and become NLW World Champion. The next week, AJ Styles would have a celebration which he would be introduced by the newly turned heel Commissioner. Styles would be interrupted by Sting who would get revenge and crash his party. The next week, Sting would cut a promo on Styles about being a coward. AJ would then hit Sting with his World Title. At the Royal Rumble II, AJ Styles would face Sting for the World Title. The match would end after Styles reversed a super-can-rana into a super Styles clash. The next night, AJ Styles would be introduced by the nWo to find out the #1 contender, but Triple H would attack Shawn Michaels, distracting the nWo members. CM Punk would come to the ring and deliver the GTS to Styles, signing the contract, therefore, becoming the #1 contender. The next week at NLW: Extreme Reunion, AJ Styles would interrupt a match between Rob Van Dam and CM Punk. He would hit Punk with the title and allowed the chance for RVD to deliver the coast to coast to Punk. On episode 38, CM Punk and AJ Styles would have their contract signing for Havoc, AJ Styles would slap Punk, then Punk would put AJ through the table with a top rope elbow. At Havoc, Styles and Punk would have their Iron Man match, which AJ would retain after a tie. Two weeks later, AJ stole the Royal Rumble winner Undertaker's bike. After Taker's match with Randy Orton, he would chase down Styles. On the go-home show before Wrestlemania, AJ Styles would taunt Undertaker by using his bike. Taker would come out, however, Styles would hit him with a pipe. AJ would tie Taker to his own bike and drag him around the arena and later out of it. At Wrestlemania II, Styles would defeat Taker after a Super Styles Clash. After the match, Undertaker and AJ Styles would shake but, Styles would superkick Taker. The next night, AJ Styles would trash the World Heavyweight Championship design and debut the Undisputed Championship design. AJ would then cut a promo on Undertaker, he would then come out and Styles would run scared. The short term commissioner Fcadclay would announce that at Revenge that a rematch between Styles and Taker would take place. FCadclay also announced that it would take place in Hell in a Cell. At Revenge, AJ Styles and Undertaker would once again battle. The two would fall off the Cell in the match, but Taker refused for the match to end and rammed Styles into the Cell. Styles would win after a Styles Clash off a ladder. The episode after Revenge, AJ Styles would attack Brock Lesnar. Later in the night, Styles would receive his first lose in a while to Drew Galloway thanks to Brock Lesnar. After the match, Brock Lesnar would hit an F5 on Styles. The next year (2017) on the Metal return episode, AJ Styles was supposed to face Big E Langston, but, The Undertaker would take him out before the match. The new 50/50 NLW Commissioner Stone Cold Steve Austin would announce. Finn Balor would cash in his Intercontinental Championship. Styles would almost lose his World Championship to Finn Balor but, Seth Rollins would cause a DQ win. On NLW Episode 46, Brock Lesnar would defeat AJ Styles. After the match, CM Punk and Shawn Michaels would try to attack Lesnar but Lesnar would shank them. On the next episode, AJ Styles would team up with CM Punk and Shawn Michaels against Brock Lesnar, Drew Galloway, and Jeff Hardy. The heels would pick up a win after Styles hit a Styles clash on Galloway. At Unchained, AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy would kick off the match. AJ Styles would lose his World Championship after being eliminated by Brock Lesnar, CM Punk would later become Champion.

### Feud with the Coperation and Bullet Club (2017-2019)

The next night, AJ Styles would interrupt CM Punk and Shawn Michaels to announce he would be the 3rd

competitor at Insurgence. Later in the night, Finn Balor would become the 4th competitor. On the next episode, AJ Styles would compete against Finn Balor in a gauntlet right after Balor had eliminated Shawn Michaels. Balor would eliminate Styles. Styles would then save Balor from CM Punk and Shawn Michaels, cementing his face turn. The next week, AJ Styles and Finn Balor would team up against Shawn Michaels and CM Punk, which they would win. At Insurgence, Styles would face Punk, Balor, and Michaels. CM Punk would win after stealing it from Shawn Michaels. On the night after Insurgence, AJ Styles would face Hideo Itami of the Riot Squad, which Styles would win. After the match, Hernandez and Kofi Kingston would attempt to break AJ's leg but The Young Bucks would save him. At Royal Rumble III, The Bullet Club would face The Riot Squad in a Street Fight. The Riot Squad would win after a Border Toss from the top rope to one half of the Young Bucks Nick Jackson. During the NLW Draft, Styles would be Drafted to Metal. On episode 54, Styles along with his Bullet Club stablemates, would brawl with The Coperation. On Metal Episode 41, Styles and Balor would team up against The Dudley Boyz. Midway through the match, the masked attackers who ran down Steve Austin would be revealed as Styles and Balor's former friends, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. At Desolation, AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and The Young Bucks would defeat Edge, The Dudleys, and Gallows and Anderson. After Desolation, The Young Bucks would defeat Gallows and Anderson in a rematch. After the match, Gallows and Anderson would beat down the Bucks. Finn Balor and AJ Styles would come down to save the Bucks, only for Balor to turn on the Bullet Club and alligigning with Gallows and Anderson, turning heel. The next week, Finn Balor explained that the reason for his actions was because he felt that the Bullet Club cared less about him. The next week, AJ Styles would defeat Karl Anderson. At Wrestlemania III, The Bullet Club would lose to The Balor Club after the debuting Tama Tonga interfered. The next night, AJ Styles competed in the G1 Climax, comepeting in a match against Shawn Michaels. The match ended after the time expired, leaving them both with one point. The next week, Styles would defeat Drew Galloway/McIntyre. The next episode of Metal, Styles would defeat DDP. The next week, Styles would recieve his first loss in the tournament to Cody Rhodes. Styles would make it past his block after defeating rival Finn Balor, ending the feud. At The G1 Finals, Styles would fail to capture the NLW Metal-Weight Championship title from after losing to Samoa Joe. The next night, AJ would come down to the ring to shake Joe's hand.

### Metalweight Championship Pursuits (2019-2021)

The next week, AJ Styles would lose to Bobby Roode. At Royal Rumble 4, Styles would enter the Royal Rumble for the first time since 2013 at #13. Styles would be elimanated by Adam Cole. On Metal episode 55, Styles would defeat Rhyno in a Money in The Bank qualifyer. Two Episodes later, Styles would lose to Sami Zayn to determine the #1 Contender to Cody Rhodes' Intercontinental Championship. AJ Styles would compete at WrestleMania IV in the MITB but would be unsuccesful in winning the match. On the next episode of Metal, AJ would defeat the debuting Lince Dorado. After the match, Styles would send a message to World Champion, Tetsuya Naito. He would eventually have a match with Naito, but would fail to win the title after Naito used illegal tacticts.

### Move to NLW and The O.C. (2021-present)

On Episode 89 of NLW, Styles would be drafted to NLW. He and Seth Rollins would later have a match on the same show, with AJ Styles winning. After the match, the newly-drafted Kevin Owens would attack Styles and Rollins. A few weeks later, Styles would compete in a battle royal to determine the #1 Contender to the NLW World Championship, but would fail to win. He would then defeat Andrade and Pac on Episode 94 to qualify for a triple threat match for the newly-established Atlas Championship. On the next episode, Styles would be set to team with Steve Austin and The Young Bucks against The Undisputed Era, but Los Ingobernables de Japon would attack him at the request of new commissioner, Shawn Michaels. His former rivals, The Good Brothers, would come to his aid however. He would then reconcile with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, much to the dismay of The Young Bucks. Leading up to NLW True Grit, The Good Brothers would offer to help him in his matches, but he would decline on mutiple occasions. On the go-home episode before True Grit, The Good Brothers would attack Walter. AJ Styles would try to prevent them from doing so, however, he would then get pounced by Keith Lee. At True Grit, Styles would wrestle Keith Lee and Walter for the Atlas Championship, but would fail to win. During the match, The Good Brothers would yet again attempt to help AJ, but this time, he would low blow Walter. On the next episode of NLW, Styles would come out to the ring with Gallows and Anderson, now calling themselves "The O.C". This would officially turn Styles heel. Styles would face Orange Cassidy after this in a winning effort. The next week, The O.C. would lose a 6-man tag team match to Keith Lee, Walter, and X-Divison champion Mustafa Ali. Styles would then compete in the Royal Rumble match at the namesaken event, but would fail to win after being eliminated by Orange Cassidy.