AJ Styles

Allen Neal Jones, better known by the ring name "AJ Styles" is an American Professional Wrestler. He is currently working in WWE under the SmackDown brand. He is regarded as one of the greatest performers in the wrestling business. He has worked in several Independent promotions as well as in Impact Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

AJ Styles Early Life

AJ Styles was born on the 2nd of June in 1977 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, USA. He grew up in poverty. While he had a childhood passion for pro-wrestling, Styles was not able to watch pro-wrestling at the time due to their family condition. The family could not afford cable television. Styles graduated from Johnson High School in Gainesville, Georgia, and graduated at the age of 19.

Styles then joined Anderson University and was able to meet his expenses there as he was on a wrestling and physical education scholarship. He moved lawns and drove an ambulance to meet his further expenses before his breakout in professional wrestling.

Professional Wrestling Career of AJ Styles

TNA Wrestling

AJ Styles made his pro-wrestling debut in 1998. During the early stages of his career, Styles was mostly competing on several independent wrestling promotions. His first big break was his stint with the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 2011. He then moved to TNA in which he stayed from 2002 to 2013. His tenure in TNA earned him immense popularity across the wrestling fraternity. He is a three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and two-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion. He completed the TNA Triple Crown five times and became the first-ever pro-wrestler to do so. He is also a two-time winner of the TNA Grand Slam.

Ring of Honor (ROH)

Post TNA, Styles spent a brief period of time in ROH and after becoming the ROH Pure Champion, he moved to NJPW. He won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his debut match and went on to pick up the title one more time during his time there. He also took over the Bullet Club and began leading them.

WWE

In January 2016, Styles signed with the WWE. Interestingly, this was not AJ Styles’ first introduction to the WWE Universe. He had also been approached by the WWE fourteen years ago, during the early days of his pro-wrestling career.

Back in 2002, AJ Styles refused to sign with the WWE when he was offered to be a part of the development program. However, he was now about to be welcomed in the WWE as an established Superstar. Popularly known as the “Phenomenal One”, AJ Styles debuted on WWE as the eighteenth wrestler in the Royal Rumble 2016. Although he was eliminated by Kevin Owens, he entered the arena to a loud pop and was immediately established as the fan-favorite. Soon, he picked a feud with Chris Jericho, and both continued the rivalry on RAW and SmackDown. But he formed a tag team partnership with Jericho to introduce Y2AJ to the world. Together, they took on The New Day.

AJ Styles and Jericho once again entered into a feud and that ended in Styles’ defeat at WrestleMania 32. AJ Styles also became the number one contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion to challenge Roman Reigns. After multiple feuds, Styles was drafted to the SmackDown brand where he became the top Superstar.

Major Feuds

According to the storyline, Styles was fired after he ambushed SmackDown Commissioner, Shane McMahon. He initiated a rivalry against the Authority which resulted in one of the best segments in his WWE run. He defeated Shane O’Mac in WrestleMania 33 and ended that feud. Styles then initiated a rivalry with WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal. The two fought for quite a long with most fans rooting for The Phenomenal One. Eventually, Styles defeated Mahal on SmackDown to win the WWE Championship and it was after thirteen years that a title had changed hand on a Tuesday night at SmackDown Live.

Styles also fought Mahal at Clash of Champions 2017 and retained the title. He was challenged by Shinsuke Nakamura for the title after the latter won the 2018 Royal Rumble. The two have shared history during their run in NJPW which makes their upcoming feud a dream match. AJ Styles then went on to defeat Nakamura on three different occasions at the Greatest Royal Rumble, Backlash in a no contest, and Money in the Bank in which he won in the last man standing match.

AJ Styles briefly had a feud with Samoa Joe. AJ Styles won the first meet-up at SummerSlam. Samoa Joe who was a heel went on to attack Wendy and bring his family into the feud. This set up a match between the two at Hell in a Cell and in which AJ Styles retained the title. He also defeated Joe on the Super Show-Down and Crown Jewel thus bringing an end to the feud.

AJ Styles held the WWE Championship for 371 days. He dropped the title to Daniel Bryan on November 13, 2018, on SmackDown. He had a rematch at TLC but failed to regain the title.

In 2019, Royal Rumble AJ Styles faced Daniel Bryan in a rematch but a returning Eric Rowan interfered in the match for daniel Bryan to win. Styles finally had one final opportunity to get his title back but it was ruined by Randy Orton who eliminated AJ Styles inside the Elimination Chamber. This started a feud between the two. At Wrestlemania 35, Orton and AJ Styles clashed but the Phenomenal one had the victory. Styles left the company due to a hip injury.

In April 2019, Styles returned and he was quickly involved in a match to get hands at the Universal Championship. Soon after defeating Baron Corbin at the Contender match, he faced Rollins in a match at the Money in the Bank. At this time he joined forces with Luke Gallow and Karl Anderson. Styles at one point established himself as a heel.

Later a faction was created in the name of O.C. He then faced Ricochet for the United States title at Extreme Rules 2019. AJ Styles won the title. He also successfully defended it against Cedric Alexander in Clash of Champions and Humberto Carillo at the Crown Jewel. AJ Styles dropped the title to Rey Mysterio on an episode of RAW. In January 2020, AJ Styles entered the Royal Rumble as an eighteenth entrant but was eliminated by Edge after a vicious spear was delivered to him.

After Royal Rumble, Styles participated in a Tuwaiq Trophy tournament. He was eliminated by the returning Undertaker who took AJ Styles with a Tombstone Piledriver in the middle of the ring. This led to a match between the two at Wrestlemania 36. At Wrestlemania 36, Undertaker picked up the victory against AJ Styles in a Boneyard match despite the assistance from the O.C. AJ Styles then took a sabbatical, and during this time because of the pandemic, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were released from WWE disbanding the O.C faction.

In May 2020, AJ Styles returned to RAW after a hiatus and competed in a gauntlet match to gain a spot in the Money in the Bank match. But failed to grab the briefcase. He then was traded to SmackDown. Styles participated in a tournament against Nakamura and Daniel Bryan in the following rounds to win the Intercontinental Championship. He had a short run with the title. He defended the title against Drew Gulak, Matt Riddle, and Gran Metalik. Styles lost the title to Jeff Hardy on SmackDown. He also in the later part failed to regain the title.

In 2020, October AJ Styles debuted a new bodyguard as Omos. He then began to make his appearances with him. Styles also had a match for the WWE title against Drew McIntyre. But the match was interrupted by Miz who failed to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase.AJ Styles competed in the Elimination Chamber 2021 for the title and lasted long only to lose to McIntyre.

In March 2021, Styles and Omos started to portray as a tag team after shifting his bodyguard persona to a tag team partner they challenged the reigning champions The New Day at Wrestlemania 37. At Wrestlemania 37, AJ Styles and Omos became the New RAW Tag Team Champions. And making history in record books to become a Grand Slam Champion.

Over the following months, both defended their titles successfully against the New Day and the team of Elias and Jaxson. In the Money in the Bank 2021, AJ Styles and Omos had a match against The Viking Raiders and picked up the win. Later on, they had a match with the team of Randy Orton and Riddle known as "RK-Bro" at the SummerSlam 2021. In which they lost their titles against RK-Bro. They soon had a rematch at the Crown Jewel 2021, in which they failed miserably to regain the title. At WrestleMania 38, Edge defeated AJ Styles.

Since WrestleMania, Finn Balor was trying to recruit him for The Judgement Day, but Styles rejected. At Crown Jewel, the O.C entailing AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows lost to Judgement Day. Styles will face Finn Balor at Survivor Series WarGames. At Survivor Series 2022, Styles defeated Balor after he hit him with the Phenomenal Forearm and covered him for the 3-count.

Towards the end of the year, Styles announced that he was going on an indefinite break from pro-wrestling due to an injury. He would go on to miss the action for about five months before being drafted to SmackDown in the 2023 edition of the annual WWE draft. He then partook in the inaugural World Heavyweight Championship tournament.

At the May 11 episode of SmackDown, Styles defeated Edge and Rey Mysterio to advance further in the tournament. Later that night, Styles defeated Bobby Lashley to qualify for the tournament finals. Now, he will face the RAW tournament winner Seth Rollins at Night of Champions and the winner of the two will be crowned the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion.

AJ Styles' Championships and Accomplishments

AJ Styles wife

AJ Styles is married to Wendy Jones since 2000. Wendy was born in 1978 in North Carolina, United States. She is a high school teacher by profession. The pair have four children together.

They have three sons: Ajay Covell Jones (born May 3, 2005), Avery Jones (born February 14, 2007), and Albey Jones (born September 15, 2009), and a daughter, Anney Jones (born October 8, 2014). The middle name for his first son is after Styles' real life friend Daniell Covell whom fans better know by the name Christopher Daniels.

AJ Styles Net Worth

As per various sources, AJ Styles is worth around USD 8 Million as of 2023 and draws an annual salary of around 3 Million. Click here to know more about the net worth of The Phenomenol One.