While Triple H may have walked out with "the strap", the biggest
news to come out of this year's Royal Rumble event was the debut of A.J.
Styles. Rumors had circulated about A.J. jumping from New Japan to the 'E, but
until his music hit as the third entrant into the Rumble match, I refused to
believe it. It could be because some of those same rumors also stated the rest
of the Bullet Club would be joining him, which they did not. Now with A.J.
delivering the flying forearm and the Styles clash on Raw and Smackdown, I
wouldn't rule anything out.
American audiences may remember A.J. from his time in TNA or even his
various runs with Ring of Honor. He's risen to the top level in every promotion
he's worked for, wowing crowds around the globe for nearly twenty years since
his humble beginnings in the Georgia-based National Championship Wrestling, but
he still might be a new face to some. What can WWE fans expect from the
Phenomenal One? We've already gotten a taste, with great showings against Chris
Jericho, Curtis Axel, and The Miz. A.J. is a classic cruiserweight who can
grapple like a big man. His offense is deceptive. His finishing move, the
Styles Clash, is a potentially crippling face-first slam that will hopefully be
protected by the 'E's booking/writing team.
To understand just what the rest of the WWE roster might be in for, let's
take a look at the history of the former Bullet Clubber. After working the
independent scene in the late nineties, A.J. would appear on undercard shows
like WWF Velocity and WCW Thunder. He even teamed with Air Paris to compete for
the short-lived WCW Cruiserweight titles, losing out to Elix Skipper and
someone else I can't recall at the moment. This was A.J. in his early days, and
his particular brand of swagger and in-ring style were still forming.
A.J. first became a real "contender" in the now-defunct NWA
Wildside promotion. Soon the promotion and most of its assets would morph into
the Jarret family's TNA, which still limps along today as Impact Wrestling. The
sad story of TNA's rise and fall is for another time, though. Against Jeff
Jarret himself and other rising stars like Christopher Daniels, A.J. forged his
unpredictable and innovative offense, borrowing the best bits he could from
Stampede style, lucha, and puroresu. He would take these skills the fledgling
Ring of Honor promotion circa 2003, fighting the world title and feuding with
the likes of Alex Shelley and Jimmy Rave, the latter of whom even tried to
steal Styles' signature move, renaming it the Rave Clash.
I personally became a fan of A.J. during his time at TNA. The three way feud
between Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe for the X Division belt
energized me at the time, renewing my interest in international wrestling. The
work of guys like A.J. Styles had me scouring the 'net and DVD dealers to find
the foreign wrestling these men had "stolen" from. Ah yes, those were
my smarkiest days by far.
There was a period of a few years where A.J. seemed to play second fiddle
to names like Kurt Angle and Christian. It would've been infuriating for an
A.J. supporter if not for the fact that those aren't bad wrestlers to play
second fiddle to. A.J.'s star could have risen much faster, in my opinion, if
the latent curve in TNA at that time hadn't been so harsh. Feuds with groups
like Bad Influence and Aces & Eights kept Styles busy for a time, but eventually
there was nowhere for A.J. to go in TNA, and it seemed almost natural that he
would transition back to ROH and New Japan, seeing as TNA's writing and booking
were lacking in their logic and quality. And that's really saying something in
the world of wrestling.
A.J.'s most recent, dominating streak in NJPW as the figurehead of the
Bullet Club has seen Styles find an edge he never seemed to have previously.
Reports of the damage his Styles Clash maneuver had caused to several
competitors gave him an intimidating aura, made all the more fascinating to me
by A.J. not actually being all the big physically. It was the kind of thing you
rarely get to see in the WWE; a smaller wrestler with the threatening pre-match
presence of a Brock Lesnar. Entire matches were built around A.J. hitting the
Styles clash, my favorite of which has to be his match with Naito at last
year's Wrestle Kingdom.
I guess what we can draw from this, if anything, is that A.J. Styles is a
wrestler who continues to evolve. It remains to be seen what long-term effects
working under the WWE banner will have on A.J.'s offense and defense.
"Indy darlings" like Styles are forced to slow down a bit and work
the 'E match style, where stories tend to be told simply and with few long, chain
wrestling sequences. To counter this, A.J. has a sturdy arsenal of high flying
strikes and acrobatic moves that younger, impatient fans will eat up. As we saw
in the match with Jericho last Monday, being paired with a vet or a truly
gifted worker means A.J. can safely "turn it on", utilizing the stuff
that made him "phenomenal" in the first place, but wouldn't necessarily
mesh well with guys like Eric Rowan or The Big Show.
"What lies ahead?" I always ask myself when a popular Indy
wrestler joins the ranks of the WWE. A great debut isn't hard; the WWE is very
capable of making someone look like a huge deal at first glance. Hopefully, he
won't be saddled with The Miz and the #Socialoutcast guys for too long. Get him
chasing a title and you have a winner of a feud, period.
And Kevin Owens did eliminate him from the Rumble . . . .
Words by me, Chris B (@ChrisBComics)
Photo from 411mania.com
