10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About AJ Styles

10. WCW Got To Him First

It wasn't a lengthy run and it happened just as the organisation hit the skids, but AJ Styles was WCW's property long before WWE came calling.

In 2001, AJ teamed with Air Paris to work WCW's Cruiserweight Tag-Team Title tournament. The duo didn't experience a ton of success, and it would only be a few months before Styles was back on the indy circuit doing his thing. That doesn't alter the fact that he was a WCW star 15 years before becoming a WWE one.

WWE are unlikely to profile AJ's short stint in World Championship Wrestling. To them, he's a WWE superstar now, and that means he's one million miles away from the stench of Turner failure. Not only that, WWE probably wouldn't want fans to view Styles as a Cruiserweight.

Back in '01, that's what he was. It's easy to forget that the industry's obsession with muscularity has changed over the past 15+ years; guys with the look and size of AJ rarely made it as headliners in the big leagues back then.