"That belt looks so good on him," "Him Vs Cody would be a great feud" - Fans want 45-year-old legend to return and win the WWE Championship

In the upcoming WWE Draft, fans want both world titles to split and be exclusive to the SmackDown and RAW brands. It would make all the sense in the world for Roman Reigns to vacate the oldest belt in the company's history over the Universal Championship, as it is the latter belt that he has held for nearly 1,000 days.

While Cody Rhodes seems to be the most deserving star to become the number-one contender for the WWE Championship, there are some diehard fans out there that wish to see a legend return from injury and reclaim his spot as the "face that runs the place, the champ that runs the camp."

AJ Styles is a two-time WWE Champion. He quickly rose up the ranks and captured the belt for the first time, just eight months after debuting for the global juggernaut company at Backlash 2016, defeating Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose).

His second victory took place in the United Kingdom in late 2017, when he dethroned Jinder Mahal. This led to a year-long reign for The Phenomenal One. However, he hasn't won the title ever since, dropping it to current AEW star Bryan Danielson (fka Daniel Bryan) in November 2018.

Read more about a potential O.C. heel run upon Styles' return to challenge one of the company's current top stars here.

Update on the former WWE Champion's return

AJ Styles was injured at a live event in December 2022 and has not yet been cleared to return to the squared circle. Following the injury, Styles took to Twitter to address the situation. The O.C. leader stated:

Interestingly, Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson are featured in the graphic advertisement for the WWE Draft scheduled to take place on April 28 on Friday Night SmackDown. The Phenomenal One is not one of the names that have been deemed ineligible for the Draft.

According to a report on PWInsider Elite, backstage news on Styles' current status discloses that the O.C. leader was not around Wrestlemania 39 weekend as he is still in recovery and getting "ready to perform."

The report further states Styles hasn't "been at the WWE Performance Center or anywhere else on the road for the company."

Meanwhile, read more about what Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson had to say regarding wrestling for the Stamford-based promotion without AJ Styles here.

Do you think another AJ Styles World Championship run is a long time coming? Sound off in the comments section below.

About the author

Joel has been a WWE news writer at Sportskeeda for the last 2 years. Always having a penchant for writing, he worked as an independent screenwriter and a copy/content writer for almost 2 years before joining Sportskeeda.

Joel’s pro-wrestling knowledge comes from hours of watching it from a young age. His favorite wrestler is Shawn Michaels, but if he could go back in time to The Attitude Era, he would like to manage Chris Jericho and advise him to cut his hair and portray a character similar to Javier Bardem in the movie “No Country for Old Men,” something which Jericho later pulled off in 2008.

Besides Michaels, Joel is also a fan of Eddie Guerrero, Randy Orton, Edge, CM Punk, and Brock Lesnar. His current favorites are Roman Reigns, Gunther, and Drew McIntyre.

Joel is a team man and works closely with his colleagues, conducts thorough research, and only relies on top pro-wrestling sources for information. His well-researched news reports have received close to 10 million reads till date.

When not following pro wrestling, Joel can be found designing built spaces, auditioning for films, working out, spending time with family and watching movies.

Know More