A.J. Styles
Allen Neal Jones (born June 2, 1977), better known by his ring name AJ Styles (also stylized as A.J. Styles), is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. He is also known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling) from 2002 to 2014 and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from 2014 to 2016.
He debuted in 1998 and competed for various independent promotions before gaining initial mainstream exposure in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 2001. Styles became widely known after signing with TNA, who described him as “the cornerstone of the company since [its] inception”;[3] he won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship twice, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship three times, and was the inaugural titleholder of the X Division Championship, which he won six times. He is also the first TNA Triple Crown and Grand Slam champion.[5] Styles simultaneously appeared in Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2002 to 2006, where he became the inaugural ROH Pure Champion, and wrestled in NJPW between 2014 and 2016, where he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship twice.[6]
Styles first appeared in World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 2002, but declined a developmental contract. He returned to the company in 2016, and won the WWE Championship twice; with his second victory in Manchester, Styles is recognized by WWE as the first wrestler to win the title outside North America. At 371 days, this is the eighth-longest reign in title history. He also won the United States Championship three times, and the Intercontinental Championship and the Raw Tag Team Championship once each, thus becoming the second wrestler (after Kurt Angle) to become a TNA/Impact and WWE Triple Crown winner, and the first to become both a TNA/Impact and WWE Grand Slam champion.
Long considered one of the world’s best professional wrestlers,[7] Styles has headlined numerous pay-per-view events, including the respective premier events of WWE and TNA, WrestleMania and Bound for Glory. He ranked atop the annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 in 2010, the first TNA wrestler to do so, was voted PWI Wrestler of the Year three times between 2016 and 2018, and Wrestler of the Decade in 2020. Styles also won ten Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, including Wrestler of the Year in 2015 and 2016, and was inducted in their Hall of Fame in 2017.
