The words “Southern Gentleman” and “Professional Wrestler” aren’t often thought of in the same light. Professional Wrestlers are typically seen as jacked up beefcakes with Steroid issues, and Southern Gentlemen are….well…not professional wrestlers. But one man came along in 1999 and began changing the entire world’s perception of both words. That man was the wrestler who’d eventually become known as The Phenomenal One, A.J. Styles.
A.J. Styles, better known to his friends as Allen Neal Jones, was born and raised with the good ol’ South in his blood. After making it through the hardships of poverty and fathers that abused alcohol and graduating from Johnson High in Gainesville, Georgia and an Anderson, South Carolina college, A.J. discovered his professional wrestling school on the whim of his friends, and quickly realized he was a natural in the squared circle. A.J. flew under the tutelage of Rich Michaels and within afew years, A.J. finally got his feet wet in the Pro Wrestling Buisness.
*AJ Styles in his early years in NWA*
In 1998, A.J. had his very first professional wrestling match for the Georgia based promotion Nation Championship Wrestling, but under a different persona. A masked persona by the name of Mr. Olympus. Within a year, Mr. Olympus had finally captured his first championship, the NCW Television Championship. But things would be changing for NCW that would send A.J. into a brand new horizon, as NCW merged with the promotion known as the National Wrestling Alliance. The merger of NCW and the NWA would spawn a new branch of NWA; Wildside, where A.J. Styles would officially be christened A.J. Styles. Styles would go on to wrestle for Wildside for years, capturing his second Television Championship on January 8th, 2000 by defeating K-Krush, who is currently known as WWE Superstar R-Truth. His second title reign came to an end as he lost the TV Title on April the 1st to Eddie Golden, only to regain the title for a time on January 6th, 2001, defeating Air Paris during Style’s run as a Villain, or Heel. A.J.’s third title reign as NWA TV Champion came to a thrilling close when he lost the title to Robbie Rage in the city of Athens, Georgia on February 21st. But all the work that A.J. put into NWA during his years was about to be noticed by some higher up individuals, as A.J. would receive a call from the now defunct promotion World Championship Wrestling.
*AJ Styles and Air Paris in WCW*
2001 and 2002 would be some hectic years for young A.J. Styles. WCW observed the feud that Styles had with Paris and decided to bring the two gentlemen into the organization as a Tag Team under the name “Air Raid”. However their run would be somewhat short lived, as in March 2001, WCW was purchased the mega-power known as WWE. But with the purchasing of WCW, Styles was left out of a job. WWE took notice to the talent A.J. possessed however and offered him a developmental contract with the company, which would require him to move to the Heartland Wrestling Association in Ohio, WWE’s developmental organization at the time. Styles turned them down however, as accepting the contract would interfere with the plans his wife had for college. Styles eventually found himself touring overseas for a short while with the WWA, capturing the WWA International Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Nova and Jerry Lynn in the same night. Styles later vacated the title to return home to the NWA.
His return to NWA saw him feuding with many high profile stars, but his talents became recognized even farther as NWA decided to sign Styles to their newest branch; NWA: TNA. Styles pursued the NWA Heavyweight Championship during his return run to NWA and managed to capture it for the first time from the very man who trained him, Rick Michaels, at NWA Christmas Chaos. But after months of feuding for the NWA Heavyweight Championship, a brand new organization would come calling for A.J.’s unique talents. An organization that would soon take the world by storm. That organization was Ring of Honor.
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