A.J. Styles is known by many “The Phenominal One”, and in January of this year, made his official debut in World Wrestling Entertainment (he had been offered a developmental deal back in 2002, but declined to stay with his family). And since his “return”, he has had a unique issue (and former friendship) with another wrestling legend… Chris Jericho.
For a time, they were tag team partners, going by the name of “Y2AJ”, and even had a shot at the WWE Tag Team Championships. They faced off against The New Day on WWE Monday Night RAW for the titles, but were unsuccessful at winning.
Following the match, Jericho turned of Styles and shoved a t-shirt down Styles’ throat to a chorus of boos from the crowd. Three days later, on WWE Smackdown, Jericho put one of the t-shirts in the trashcan and burned it on television.
Both wrestlers would begin distracting each other during their opponent’s matches on both RAW and Smackdown, to varying levels of success.
Eventually, on the March 28th edition of Monday Night RAW, Jericho accepted a challenge set out by Styles to face off at Wrestlemania 32, which will be the first Wrestlemania Styles has ever competed in… and Jericho’s 12th in total.
In his long career, Jericho has won 30 championships across WCW, ECW, and WWF(E), including being the first ever WWF(E) Undisputed Champion. As for Styles, he has won (including multiple reigns) over 50 championships across the world, including Ring of Honor, TNA, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and more.
Both wrestlers contain a strong arsenal of submission, high flying, and old school attacks, which electrify the crowd, and on the grandest stage of them all, this is the type of match that can stand out from the rest, and potentially be the best in terms of both storytelling and wrestling in general.
It’s sure to bring a big level of excitement to Dallas, Texas on Sunday.
