5 Things that would have happened if AJ Styles joined WWE 10 years ago

In the short amount of time he's actually been in WWE, AJ Styles has proven himself to be one of the greatest performers the company has ever had on their roster. He's held the WWE Championship twice, as well as both the United States and Intercontinental (which he currently holds) Championships. It's honestly shocking he's never held either of the company's tag team championships.

Ten years earlier, Styles was in TNA Impact, as a member of Ric Flair's ill-advised reincarnation of the Four Horsemen, Fortune. OK, granted, everything about Ric Flair's time in TNA was ill-advised, but the less said about that, the better.

While AJ Styles' work in TNA led him to the acclaim he has now, by 2010, The Phenomenal One had already established himself as one of the most talented performers in the business. However, in April of that year, he had dropped the TNA World Championship to Rob Van Dam. It would have made perfect sense for him to head to greener pastures.

Instead, he stuck around TNA for another four years, before heading to both Ring of Honor and, most importantly, New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he took over leadership of Bullet Club.

So, let's play a little game of 'What If...?' and imagine if Styles had jumped to the "big leagues" ten years ago. How would the landscape of the business be different? How would Styles' own career be different? Would he still have that goofy haircut?

Here's five things that would have changed if AJ Styles had joined WWE ten years ago.

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#5. Bullet Club would probably look significantly different without AJ Styles

Bullet Club celebrate AJ Styles' IWGP Championship victory

Now, as an exercise in alternate wrestling history, there are still a lot of variables to consider here than even we have time for. So, even if AJ Styles had signed with WWE in 2010, who's to say he would still be there now? However, in the spirit of not wanting to get bogged down with details, for this particular entry, let's say he spent the last decade with WWE.

Bullet Club, NJPW's ridiculously popular faction of rebellious heels consisting of (mostly) non-Japanese (gaijin) wrestlers, was originally founded by Prince Devitt - now known as Finn Balor. When Balor left to begin his WWE run in 2014, Styles took his place and eventually became the leader of the group. This was the era in the group's history where they really started to see international popularity.

Obviously, if Styles had been working for WWE at the time, someone else would have had to take over the leadership role instead. More than likely, that would have been Karl Anderson - who actually took the reigns of the group when Devitt left.

We'll never really know what Bullet Club would look like today had it not counted AJ Styles as a member. Even while never having been a WWE Superstar at that point in his career, Styles carried with him plenty of recognition among even casual fans - and that drew a lot of attention towards NJPW.

Our guess? Bullet Club would still be going strong in New Japan today, just like it is now, but it probably wouldn't be as internationally recognized as it is.

#4 Would AEW even exist?

AEW

If AJ Styles had never gone to New Japan, would there have eventually been an All Elite Wrestling promotion?

The short answer: Yeah, probably. But, let's keep going down this rabbit hole since we're already here and don't have anything else to do.

As we mentioned before, AJ Styles' tenure in Bullet Club also coincided with their rise to mega-popularity around the world. Because of that popularity, the faction became the group to be a part of gaijin looking to work in Japan.

Anyway, in 2016, AJ Styles' run in NJPW (and, in turn, his run as leader of Bullet Club) ended after Kenny Omega attacked The Phenomenal One after a match - an attack that was joined by The Young Bucks, followed by the rest of Bullet Club. This led to the formation of The Elite, a sub-faction within Bullet Club consisting of Omega and the Bucks. Eventually, that group would grow, gaining Cody Rhodes, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll as members.

All of this led to The Bucks and Cody forming All Elite Wrestling, which you may have heard of.

Now, if AJ Styles had never joined NJPW and, by extension, Bullet Club, would The Elite have become an official faction upon his leaving the company? Eh, possibly. But, the fact of the matter is: no Elite, no All Elite Wrestling. And if Bullet Club isn't the wrestling and pop culture phenomenon it was, there's a chance that Cody doesn't want to join. And, without Cody Rhodes, there's probably no All Elite Wrestling.

#3 AJ Styles vs CM Punk

The Phenomenal One and the Voice of the Voiceless may have never stepped foot in a WWE ring together, but they're certainly not strangers. As you can see above, AJ Styles and CM Punk had faced each other before in Ring of Honor in the early 2000s.

In 2010, Punk was just wrapping up his work with the Straight Edge Society, about to take over leadership of the Nexus, and was on his way to WWE's Summer of Punk. The Second City Saint was a year away from his famous "pipebomb" promo and becoming the most talked-about star in the industry.

If AJ Styles had found his way into WWE around then, there's little doubt that these two would have eventually met up in the ring together again. It was around this time that WWE was taking a chance on putting the spotlight on some of their smaller, more athletic performers - 2011 not only saw Punk as WWE Champion, but Daniel Bryan as World Heavyweight Champion and Cody Rhodes as Intercontinental Champion.

The WWE Championship picture at the end of 2011

AJ Styles would have fit perfectly in this scene and could have put on incredible matches with anybody in this photo (yep, anybody). Since coming to WWE, he's had some pretty damn good matches with the two guys pictured here still in the company: Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan.

Would this match have changed the landscape of pro wrestling? Well, it's easy to say "probably not" but, with CM Punk, you never quite know what's going to happen. And, between the Best in the World and the man Stone Cold Steve Austin once called the "best wrestler on two feet," that's a recipe for magic.

#2 AJ Styles would have avoided the two lacklustre angles of his career

Woooooo? More like Booooooo, amirite?

Look, it's easy to bash TNA Impact. Anyway, let's move on. Seriously, though, from its inception in 2002 to, well, fairly recently, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling - or just Impact Wrestling as it would prefer to be called now - has taken a lot of flack for its pretty ridiculous stories and management decisions (come on, they hired Vince Russo, like a bunch of times). However, that's mostly because the bad stuff really - really - sticks out. It's easy to forget some of the really good stuff they've put out - like most of the X Division stuff and some classic matches featuring AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Abyss, and so many others.

So, as I said, it's easy to bash TNA during those years, but they also did a lot of stuff well.

The "AJ Styles is the New Nature Boy" and "Claire Lynch" angles are not two examples of that. And, as a legit admirer of AJ Styles work, I feel bad even bringing these up.

The first is just what it sounds like - with AJ Styles as TNA World Champion and Ric Flair as his mentor, Flair attempted to turn Styles into... well... the next Ric Flair. The problem with that being that while both men were (and are) amazing in-ring performers, their personalities are complete opposites of each other. Seeing the wholesome, well-managed Southern boy Styles trying to pretend like he's the jet flying, limousine ride... you know, all that stuff Flair said he was... nobody was buying it. It was hard to watch.

Also hard to watch was the entire "Claire Lynch" story, which went from Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian accusing AJ Styles of having an affair with then-TNA President Dixie Carter, to them accusing Styles of having an affair with a woman named... well... Claire Lynch, and getting her pregnant.

Look, I could describe what this was all about, but Brian Zane of Wrestling With Wregret did it so much better than I ever could, so I'll just let him do it.

In the overall scheme of things, when we look back at the career of AJ Styles once he calls it a career, these will simply be two blips on his radar. Brian pointed out, every performer gets stuck with at least one bad storyline in their career. Besides, who's to say that Styles wouldn't have been saddled with things equally as stupid if he had been in WWE?

I think we can all pretty much agree that probably would have happened.

#1. AJ Styles vs Shawn Michaels

Fan art of a theoretical AJ Styles vs Shawn Michaels match

It's kind of like when The Beatles broke up. Ever since Shawn Michaels retired in 2010, everybody began asking aloud - when is he going to come back for one More Match? And, every time, Michaels would say "I'm not, stop asking." Let's consider for a minute that AJ Styles wound up in WWE in 2010.

Michaels had his retirement match with The Undertaker that same year at WrestleMania, and used the opportunity to hang up his boots, as he felt he had done everything he was going to accomplish in the world of pro wrestling. And, let's be fair - that was a lot of stuff.

On the other hand, he had to be aware of who AJ Styles was at the time and the reputation he had around the rest of the business. It's not a stretch to assume that Michaels might have been willing to extend his time in WWE just an extra year for the opportunity to work with The Phenomenal One. After all, it's not like The Undertaker was going anywhere.

In 2017, Michaels admitted that he was asked to face AJ Styles in a match that year at WrestleMania 33. Shawn, obviously, turned it down and explained on The Sam Roberts Show:

“I could’ve had that match, they did not have an opponent for AJ at Wrestlemania. I wish that man was here 10 years ago man, I really do.”

Now, that was in 2017, meaning that his own dream match with Styles would have taken place in 2007. However, it's more than likely that someone with the reputation of one AJ Styles coming into WWE in 2010 would have given Shawn the spark he needed for just one more run before calling it quits.