It was a phenomenal year for AJ Styles. The veteran wrestler held the WWE title for the bulk of the year, and was voted by Wrestlezone’s readers as the Male Wrestler of the Year!
The Georgia wrestler’s 2018 included a memorable feud with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn that culminated at the Royal Rumble, a series of anticipated matches against Shinsuke Nakamura from WrestleMania 34 through Money in the Bank, an exciting match against Rusev at Extreme Rules, and a personal series of grudge matches against Samoa Joe.
Perhaps his best matches came against the returning Daniel Bryan, who would ultimately dethrone Styles after his year-long reign as WWE Champion. They most recently tore the house down at TLC, and are set to do so again at the 2019 Royal Rumble.
The end of the year has been particularly strong for Styles, as he’s not only put on some match of the year contenders, but has also been a part of a memorable angle with Vince McMahon. Styles wound up punching McMahon after being slapped in order to provoke “the real AJ” out of him. It seems that Styles is poised for just as exciting a 2019, and fans are in for a treat.
