10 Wrestlers Who Achieved The Impossible

9. AJ Styles: Getting Over By Design, Not Accident

Cody Competed With WWE
WWE.com

AJ Styles, in many respects, was the antithesis of the WWE headliner prototype.

His billed height was average by the standards of the real world; to WWE, that made him pure Big Cass fodder. His slender frame allowed him to perform feats of breathtaking athleticism, but did not, on the surface, hand him the keys to main event superstardom. His almost braying southern cadence was something Jim Ross was ribbed (sorry) mercilessly for on national television for years; it was as displeasing to the influential Kevin Dunn as sneezing is to Vince McMahon. Styles knew all this; in a defiant gesture, just as WWE renamed all of its developmental talent at the turn of the decade, he proudly inked his initials on his side.

He was A-J-Styles.

Usually, wrestlers like AJ were put over more by accident than design. CM Punk used the last vestige of his patience with the WWE to fire his infamous Pipebomb promo. Daniel Bryan only got over when that machine crushed him.

Styles, strangely but wonderfully, seemed to spark something within Vince McMahon immediately. At Backlash '16, he secured his first WWE Heavyweight Championship - in well under a year - following momentum built with a collector's edition clean win over John Cena at SummerSlam.

Even Vince knew that Styles was Phenomenal.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!