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#4. Head to NXT
Unlike the majority of new talent entering WWE - especially for the first time - AJ Styles didn't begin his run in the company as part of NXT. Instead, he arrived by entering #3 in the 2016 Royal Rumble, making one of the flashiest, most eventful debuts in the company's history.
OK - so, technically, he wrestled a match or two of WWF Jakked back in 2002. But, look, I won't make this any more complicated than it needs to be if you don't. Deal? Cool.
While that was obviously the right call, we can only imagine some of the amazing matches and stories he could have been a part of at that time. But, while the NXT of 2016 was amazing, the NXT of now is beyond awesome. And it's not even really "developmental" anymore.
Right now, there are at least two former "main roster" World Champions on the brand - former Universal Champion Finn Balor and former Divas/RAW/SmackDown Women's Champion (as well as the former and current NXT Women's Champion) Charlotte Flair. And there's a good chance I'm forgetting someone else (let me know in the comments who I'm forgetting and what an idiot I am).
Also, consider this: following the recent spate of releases from the company, there are only two other former Bullet Club members in WWE at the moment - and they're both in NXT. One is the aforementioned Balor (aka Prince Devitt) and the other is the current NXT Champion Adam Cole.
Imagine you're AJ Styles and the possibility of spending a year in NXT - working exclusively in Florida and only having to travel between there and his home in Georgia, working with some of the best talents in the business and getting to help build what is already considered one of the best (if not the best) wrestling brand in the business. How could you pass that up?
AJ still has some time left on his contract, and even though he said this will be his last - like me, he's getting up there in years - there's nothing that says he can't, say, sign a one-year extension if need be. That means there's still plenty of time left for him to be the draw he always has been on RAW or SmackDown - but NXT could use him for a while, too.
