Ranking EVERY WWE Champion From Worst To Best
16. AJ Styles
Time's arrow neither stands still nor reverses, it only marches forward. And it does so in weird ways - AJ Styles could very possibly end up spending longer with WWE than he ever did in TNA, despite him once being perceived as the one talent that would never turn out for the market leader.
It's because of the now-dated assessment of the former NWA, TNA and IWGP Heavyweight Champion that his 2016 WWE Championship victory hit so different in context. After just nine months of adjusting to the sight of 'The Phenomenal One' running the company's ropes, the new trick was to get over the visual of him holding gold. He carried it well over the winter months as a heel too, but the run couldn't compare with his second stint. By defeating Jinder Mahal in 2017, he was cast as a babyface gift from the gods, not least because the wins set up a killer Champion Vs Champion match against Brock Lesanar at Survivor Series mere weeks later. Lesnar and advocate Paul Heyman had openly laughed at the notion of the original match before Styles saved the day.
Oddly for a man that built his reputation bell-to-bell, the run didn't really have the matches after the masterclass with Lesnar, but that didn't really matter. The damage inflicted on the gold by an ignorantly-booked Mahal reign needed to be cleared up, and the 371 day tenure was just what the title's credibility needed.