Breaking down the best of AJ Styles

WWE.com and Pat McAfee Show contributor Mark Kaboly  lists "The Best of AJ Styles" ahead of his WWE tribute on Raw in Atlanta.

THE SETUP
AJ Styles spent more than 10 years with WWE and near 27 in the squared circle before being retired by Gunther. Ironically, Styles’ WWE career ended at the same PLE it started – Royal Rumble. Styles’ iconic run in the company resulted in two WWE Titles, an Intercontinental Championship, two Tag Team Championships and three United States Titles. In all, Styles retired with more than 30 recognized title runs.

Best Match – AJ Styles vs. Undertaker at WrestleMania 36
How do you whittle down more than 2,000 matches to only one? Well, it’s not easy. Different people have different preferences. To me, Styles vs. The Undertaker in the Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36 was the best of Styles’ WWE career because it showed that a high-flying, technical competitor like Styles can be versatile enough to take part in a cinematic masterpiece. The match was a classic and proved to be satisfying enough to be The Deadman’s retirement match. Now, a lot of the match was about The Undertaker and his callback to The American Badass morphing into The Undertaker, but AJ proved to be the perfect opponent for The Deadman’s last match, as he buried him alive and sped off on his Harley into the night. I’m not sure that anybody else could’ve pulled it off in such crazy times, and AJ helped create one of the most unique matches in WrestleMania history. Going outside your comfort zone is never easy, but Styles made what could have been awkward into entertaining.

Best Rivalry – John Cena (2016-17)
It is as old as wrestling itself -- if you want to elevate yourself, you go after the biggest and baddest man in the company, and that’s one of the first things Styles did when he arrived at WWE. In a rivalry that spanned from 2016 into 2017, Styles’ beef with Cena allowed him to establish himself as a top-end performer and high-level trash talker who can also back it up in the ring on the biggest of stages. What made that rivalry so entertaining was that Styles showed up with a strong following outside WWE and Cena being the top of the food chain in the world’s largest promotion. The differences in styles and how they both accrued their following made it interesting. It led to multiple matches, including WWE Money in the Bank and SummerSlam in 2016 and Royal Rumble in 2017. It was the rivalry that elevated Styles to main-event status. Styles would go on to win the WWE Title from Dean Ambrose and proceeded to hold it for more than four months, and you’d have to think that his battles with Cena allowed that to happen.

Best Mic Moment – “Somebody doesn’t want me here” (2025)
Styles turned into a pretty reliable talker over his decade with the company, so there are plenty that jump to the forefront when you think of him. Many gravitate to his promos (especially "Beat up John Cena") during his rivalry with Cena as some of his best work, if not his best. For me, I am going to fall back on some recency bias and go with his Sept. 8, 2025, commercial break mic moment before his match with El Grande Americano. Styles wasn’t happy that he didn’t have the people to support him anymore. “It’s like someone orchestrated a way for me not to win anymore. I’ll let you make your own conclusions… I’m telling you something that you’re probably not supposed to hear, but somebody doesn’t want me here.” With it not originally being made for public consumption, and that there was a truth woven into it, made it a memorable mic moment, and to me, his best.

Best Title Run – WWE Championship (2017-18)
Styles was with the company for a couple of years and already won (and lost) the WWE Championship before going on a 371-day reign as WWE Champion that spanned from defeating Jinder Mahal on SmackDown to losing it to Daniel Bryan on the same show. Over that span, Styles put the title on the line 15 times, and his reign was the eighth-longest in WWE history at the time. During his run, he faced the likes of Cena, Bryan, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. You can argue that Styles’ third United States Title run in 2019 was his best when he reunited with The O.C. of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, but I preferred the WWE Title run a little more.

Best Faction --  The O.C with Anderson, Gallows, Michin (2022-24)
Styles briefly tagged with Dragon Lee, Chris Jericho and Omos, but those are hardly a faction. The O.C. was easily the best group that Styles had in WWE for obvious reasons – his familiarity with Anderson and Gallows at other places before coming over to WWE. After losing the U.S. Title, Anderson and Gallows convinced Styles to reunite The Club. It was later renamed The O.C., as they claimed, which means the “official, original, and only club that matters.” On and off again over the years, the final installment with Michin was the best version of the faction.