WWE Extreme Rules 2016 rumors: Is AJ Styles worthy to be next WWE Heavyweight champion?
Wrestling entertainment superstar AJ Styles has proven himself to be one of the most prominent names in the sports entertainment game today.
Having began his professional wrestling career at a relatively late age of 21 in 1998, Styles built his name from the ground up, starting with a stint with small-time Georgia-based promotion company National Championship Wrestling.
From there, he was eventually discovered and signed with the World Championship Wrestling promotion (WCW) in 2001. After a brief period, he was then signed by NWA: Total Nonstop Wrestling in 2002, where he had won the NWA World heavyweight title along the way.
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He was eventually signed by the WWE in 2002, but jumped around back to the NWA at the same time. He also appeared in various Mexican and Japanese promotion companies from 2006-2013.
In January 2016, Styles was officially signed back to the WWE, after a two-year stint at the New Japan Pro Wrestling company. He once again made waves when he was made part of the 30-man Royal Rumble contest, entering as the third wrestler to compete.
After spending 28 minutes in the match and eliminating Curtis Axel and Tyler Breeze, he was eventually eliminated by Kevin Owens. After the said event, he was booked to appear at Fastlane 2016 last February 20th, in a tag-team match alongside Chris Jericho, against the New Day.
Jericho and Styles ended up victorious, but ended up feuding in the following weeks. The two faced each other at WrestleMania, where Styles lost to Jericho.
Styles had bigger plans for himself after WrestleMania, and began pursuing the World Heavyweight title. After several appearances, Stephanie McMahon decided to pit him against champion Roman Reigns. The two are slated to face each other at Extreme Rules on May 22nd.
Styles made a name for himself in the years he had spent actively competing. Today however, there are some who hold reservations on his heavyweight title run.
In a report by Tom Clark for Bleacher Report, there are both pros and cons in the probable scenario of Styles winning the title. The upside would be that he would be the perfect "epitome of hard work", given his accomplishments.
"He is unique, he is skilled and, most importantly, he is different from any titleholder WWE has spotlighted in a long time," Clark's report reads.
The downside, on the other hand, would be the fact that it would be "too soon" for Styles to have the belt around his waist. Clark noted that it took some time for Reigns to be built up to the character that he is today, and that the crowd is still "undecided" on Styles.
Given how the WWE runs things, Reigns is to retain his championship. As for Styles, he may need more time to allow his character to evolve.
