Predicting AJ Styles' 2018 feuds and title reigns

With 2018 fast approaching, we have been taking a look at some of WWE’s most popular Superstars and predicting what may or may not happen in their careers over the next 12 months.

In this article, we focus on AJ Styles – a man who began 2017 as WWE champion, ended 2017 as WWE champion, and firmly cemented himself as the best in-ring performer that the company has to offer.

But what lies ahead for him in 2018? How long will he hold the WWE title? Who will he feud with? Will he hold any other titles over the next year? Could he move across to Raw, perhaps?

From the obvious to the not-so-obvious, we predict who “The Phenomenal One” will battle against in 2018 and take a look at what championships he could win and lose by the time the year is out.

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#5 Kevin Owens feud

Kevin Owens and AJ Styles previously feuded over the US title

On the final SmackDown Live episode of 2017, WWE champion AJ Styles was defeated in a non-title match by Kevin Owens after Shane McMahon’s attempts to have Sami Zayn escorted from ringside proved more of a hindrance than a help.

In WWE, there’s an unwritten rule that if you pin a champion in a non-title match, you’re going to get a championship opportunity further down the line, so we can expect Owens to revive his 2017 feud with Styles in the early weeks of 2018, possibly leading to a match between the two at the Royal Rumble.

As for the outcome, it seems unlikely that KO will win his first WWE title when you consider that AJ is the most popular Superstar on SmackDown Live and he has only recently regained the championship from Jinder Mahal.

Expect “The Champ That Runs The Camp” to retain his title in the first few months of 2018, first against Owens and possibly in a couple of multi-man matches, before heading into WrestleMania 34 as the WWE champion.

#4 Shinsuke Nakamura feud

AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura was teased at Money In The Bank

With Roman Reigns almost certain to face Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 34, would WWE really risk the wrath of fans by having “The Big Dog” win the Royal Rumble match in Philadelphia again?

If they do, they can prepare for heavy boos, just like in 2015. If they don’t, then that means a Superstar from SmackDown Live is likely to win the Rumble match for the second successive year.

Of the possible contenders from the blue brand, Shinsuke Nakamura is surely at the top of the list. While he has already unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE title on two pay-per-views, losing to Jinder Mahal both times, “The King of Strong Style” vs. “The Phenomenal One” is a match that everybody wants to see at WrestleMania 34.

The former NXT champion hasn’t had as much success on the main roster as many fans would have hoped, but a high-profile match with Styles on the grandest stage – and his first WWE title triumph – would confirm Nakamura's status as one of the company’s top stars.

#3 Move to Raw

AJ Styles was expected to move to Raw in 2017

If ever there was a babyface WWE champion to have a lengthy reign with the company’s most prestigious title, it’s AJ Styles. However, if we’re predicting him to lose to Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania, there’s only one place for him to go from there: Monday Night Raw.

SmackDown Live is and will always be “The House That AJ Styles Built”, but there were plenty of rumours around before April’s Superstar Shake-Up about him moving to the red brand and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him switch to Monday nights in 2018.

As we saw with the Intercontinental and United States titles earlier in 2017, championships can move between the two brands when the rosters are shaken up, but can anyone really see the Universal title head to SmackDown Live and the WWE title switch to Raw?

It seems unlikely that WWE would move the (very red!) Universal Championship to SmackDown Live, which is why we reckon AJ will lose the WWE title in order to move to Raw sometime after WrestleMania.

#2 Dream matches on Raw, starting with Samoa Joe

AJ Styles and Samoa Joe have history from their Impact Wrestling days

As “phenomenal” as AJ Styles has been for SmackDown Live, he has faced almost everyone there is to face on the blue brand. The Raw roster is stacked with talent and a move to Team Red would allow him to have dream match after dream match almost on a weekly basis.

In 2017, he feuded with John Cena, Shane McMahon, Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal as a SmackDown Live Superstar, having Match of the Year with Cena at the Royal Rumble and the best match at WrestleMania 33 with Shane O’Mac.

But it wasn’t until he faced two Raw Superstars later in the year – Finn Balor at TLC and Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series – that fans caught a glimpse of the quality of matches we could see on a regular basis if he was a member of the red brand.

Styles could face a whole host of dream opponents if he were to switch to Monday nights, starting with Samoa Joe – his former Impact Wrestling rival who has become one of WWE’s most destructive and most believable heels.

#1 Kurt Angle feud

Fans have seen AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle before, but not in WWE

Call us crazy for predicting that AJ Styles will feud with Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle in 2018 – four men he has already faced before – but three of those matches are yet to happen inside a WWE ring.

Angle, the on-screen Raw General Manager who is one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time, has repeatedly said in media interviews since his return to WWE that his dream match would be against Styles – a man he battled with on numerous occasions in Impact Wrestling.

That seemed fantasy more than reality when the Olympic Gold medallist came back to WWE, but now that he has been cleared to compete and he already has a couple of pay-per-view matches under his belt, there’s no reason why we won’t see the two men battle it out at some point in the next 12 months.