Phenomenal Evolution: "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles

Styles' climb to superstardom started in National Championship Wrestling in Georgia under the ring name Olaf.

Following NCW's merger with NWA Georgia to form NWA Wildside, Allen Jones became AJ Styles and went on to have three reigns as Television Champion.

Following a final stint as Television Champion in NWA Wildside, Styles was brought on by WCW and competed alongside tag team partner and former rival Air Paris to form the group Air Raid.

Air Raid competed in the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team division, but neither made it to the real mainstream of WCW, and by 2001, WCW was bought out by WWE.

Without a job, and deciding not to take on a contract that would require him to move himself and his family to Cincinnati, Styles returned to NWA Wildside to pursue the NWA Georgia Championship.

After acquiring the title, he was involved in a rivalry with "The Role Model" Jason Cross. After losing the gold to David Young, Styles signed with NWA: TNA and continued his quest to become Wildside Champion.

And after a triple threat match with Jeff Jarrett that saw Jarrett unable to compete in the event, Styles never saw the Wildside Championship again.

Almost a year later, Styles competed one last time, presented an award to Bill Behrens and enjoyed a standing ovation from the Wildside crowd.

But in between his reign as Wildside Champion and his final appearance, he made his name synonymous with professional wrestling via Ring of Honor.

People on this site rarely talk about Ring of Honor. Thanks to a selective few, we know that Ring of Honor exists. And thanks to the success of those very superstars, Ring of Honor is well respected and well known.

In the process of his career, Styles made himself famous during his tenure with Ring of Honor.

And alongside future TNA and WWE stars, Styles became one of the best superstars in ROH. So who joined Styles as a member of the elite in ROH? Well, it's funny you should ask:

former WWE Tag Team Champion Paul London
former X Division Champion Christopher Daniels
current TNA superstars Amazing Red, Jimmy Rave, former TNA Tag Team Champion Homicide & former TNA World Champion Samoa Joe
former World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk.

Not to mention the appearances of Jim Cornette and WWE Hall of Famer Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat.

Ring of Honor was a staple in Styles' biggest stage of Evolution. After laying claim to the ROH Tag Team Championships with Amazing Red, Styles became involved in a rivalry with former partner Paul London.

After countless attempts at the ROH World Championship, including a battle with fellow TNA superstar Samoa Joe, Styles won became the first ROH Pure Wrestling Champion after defeating Matt Stryker and CM Punk in the same night.

But thanks to an Internet sting, Styles reign as champion was short lived, and TNA withdrew all of its talent to prevent any further scrutiny by the public.

With that, Styles made his much anticipated arrival into TNA Wrestling...

If you feel a little lost by now, it's okay to be. Because of the way that Styles bounced between NWA Wildside and Ring of Honor, TNA did manage to sign him while he was with ROH.

AJ Styles made his official debut in TNA in 2002, in a losing effort to The Flying Elvises. In June, he made history when he defeated Low-Ki, Jerry Lynn and Psicosis to become the first ever X Division Champion.

After losing it to Low-Ki at the end of the summer, he defeated Syxx-Pac to reclaim the X Division Championship.

Styles spent the remainder of 2002 trying to get the gold back from Jerry Lynn but was unsuccessful.

After losing the X Division Championship one last time to Jerry Lynn, Styles focused his attention to the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Though coming up short on his first chance to become World Champion, Styles finally climbed the mountain and became NWA World Champion by defeating Jeff Jarrett and Raven on June 11.

After becoming champion, Styles became the heel of the company and eventually lost the championship to Jarrett in October.

Several months later, Styles defeated Jarrett to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion in a Six Sides of Steel match via interference from Vince Russo.

A month later, Jeff Jarrett cost Styles the gold, and Ron "The Truth" Killings became NWA World Heavyweight Champion.

Styles returned to the X Division to become a three-time champion, but as we all know, every superstar who goes through Evolution dreams of bigger and better things, since he's already been NWA World Champion and X Division Champion.

And thanks to countless rivalries with Abyss, Christopher Daniels and Jarrett, Styles met a new form of competition...

...in the forms of Kurt and Karen Angle.

Upon Kurt Angle's arrival, the foundation of TNA begin to change. Christian Cage was the most unstoppable force in the company.

Samoa Joe was the biggest thing to hit the X Division since...well, AJ Styles himself. And AJ Styles was involved in a war with Rhino.

After a lengthy stint in Christian's Coalition, Styles turned on Christian and cost him the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

With this, he then joined Angle Alliance alongside his tag team championship partner Tomko. In the process of joining Angle, he was placed in a storyline where he developed feelings for Karen Angle.

In the process of the "feelings," he was dubbed the "Prince of Phenomenal" by Kurt's wife. This further advanced his feelings towards Karen.

So on a February 14th Edition of TNA iMPACT, Styles intervened an attack on the Angles as they renewed their vows, and in the process, he kissed Karen as the priest said those infamous words.

For the next few months, Styles and Mrs. Angle-Styles were shown in video footage enjoying their honeymoon.

But Kurt, being the narcissistic actor that he is, made sure to make Styles' life a living hell for even kissing his wife and claiming that his friendship with Karen was more than just that.

The war finally culminated with the battle for Angle's prestigious Gold Medal on two occasions. He defeated Angle both times (thanks to a mysterious guitar).

But this rivalry led to bigger and better things for Styles...

The Main Event Mafia (consisting of Sting, Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Booker T, and Scott Steiner) was making lives miserable for everyone in TNA.

Because of their "legendary" status, they felt that they should have everything on a silver platter...including TNA itself.

With that, Jeff Jarrett brought together a group of TNA Originals to battle the anarchy known as MEM. Led by AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Rhino, the TNA Frontline was officially born.

Thanks to Angle and Booker T, Styles came up short of defeating Sting for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Because of that, Styles turned his attention to Booker T after returning from injury.

At Against All Odds, Styles attacked Booker and "stole" the Legends Championship from Booker.

At Destination X, Styles defeated Booker to not only win the Legends Championship outright, he also became TNA's first ever Grand Slam Champion by winning every major title in the company.

To this day, Styles remains the Legends Champion and a huge part of the storyline involving the Frontline and the Mafia.