AJ Styles' World Title Wins Ranked - From Worst To Best

6. IWGP Heavyweight Championship - NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2014

AJ Styles IWGP Champion NJPW Bullet Club
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Don't get me wrong, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (especially in the modern age) in your first New Japan Pro Wrestling match isn't an achievement that should be sniffed at. When he defeated Kazuchika Okada for the belt at Wrestling Dontaku in May 2014 AJ became only the sixth gaijin to be crowned champion, and the first since Brock Lesnar way back in 2005.

The problem with it is that it came completely out of nowhere and incensed the crowd in the worst way. Styles defeated the beloved Okada thanks to the turn and interference of Yujiro Takahashi, a decidedly-American style finish that will always draw groans from audiences in the Far East.

Styles' run as champion didn't set the world alight either, and it wasn't until a MOTY contender (and probable winner) with Minoru Suzuki in the G1 Climax that Japanese crowds began to take to Styles. It was too little too late for this run however, as Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated him for the strap not long after.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.