10 Short-Lived WCW Runs You Totally Forgot About

Period in WCW: 12 February 2001 to 19 March 2001

AJ Styles is commonly regarded as the best thing to come out of TNA. When he arrived at WWE during 2016’s Royal Rumble, he was already a legitimate star and quickly commenced in conquering the company. Styles has cemented himself as one of the all-time greats, yet in his short 2001 stay in WCW, he performed exclusively in a handful of tag team matches.

Styles (renamed Air Styles) was partnered with Air Paris to form Air Raid. They only competed in four TV matches, managing to pick up just one win against The Boogie Knights (Alex Wright and Disco Inferno). The team were entered into the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Title Tournament, losing to Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo in the first bracket.

When WWE purchased WCW, the team were left without contracts. Though on 9 July 2001 Styles received a WWE try out. Prior to a Raw taping, he faced off against his trainer Rick Michaels. Styles won the match following a Shooting Star Press but was not offered a contract. Styles recalled advice Triple H gave him after the match:

“It was pretty cool because after that I’m walking to the back, and Triple H comes up to me and he says, ‘hey, just uh, you wanna make sure you slow down. If you think you’re going too fast just slow down a little bit.’ I said, ‘but.’ I wish I hadn’t said anything because nobody likes a but-god.”