AVFR: AJ Styles is Going into the WWE Hall of Fame

At the end of RAW last night, after AJ Styles took off his vest and gloves and laid them in the middle of the ring, The Undertaker rode out to deliver some news to AJ in front of his family in Atlanta, Georgia. Styles is the newest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2026.

It was a genuinely great moment, and the right way to cap off a career that deserved every bit of recognition it received on that stage by his peers and in the ring with his wife and kids. If you missed it, you can check out the video below.

For me, AJ Styles has been “the guy” for a long time. He is in my personal top five of all time. If you want the list, it goes Mr. Perfect, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, AJ Styles, and Sting. That is the company he keeps in my estimation, and I don’t say that lightly. Those are four of the most complete performers the business has ever produced, and Styles belongs in that conversation without apology. For me, anyway, I value different things in wrestling.

What makes Styles so remarkable is the arc of it all. He did not come up through WWE developmental. He built his name the hard way, starting in the independents, last days WCW, and then becoming the franchise of TNA during the promotion’s early years when it was at its most worth-watching.

Those TNA runs (the X Division work, the World Title reigns, even later stage TNA run with Fortune) established Styles as a generational talent long before Vince McMahon and WWE ever gave him a look. Many people forget or were unaware of his abilities before WWE, and that context is crucial when discussing his accomplishments.

He’s called the Phenomenal One because he was, well, phenomenal. The triple threat match against Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe at TNA Unbreakable is, in my opinion, the greatest triple threat match of all time. And it came right in the middle of a streak of great matches; against Samoa Joe the month before at Sacrifice, and against Christopher Daniels in a 30-minute Iron Man match the month after at Bound For Glory. TNA’s best years were built on the back of AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and eventually Samoa Joe.

When he finally arrived in WWE at Royal Rumble 2016, fresh off a two-year stint in New Japan as a leader of the famed Bullet Club, he was 37 years old. Most wrestlers are winding down at that point, not just starting a mostly excellent decade.

Styles went to WWE and had arguably the best run of his career, though maybe not his greatest matches. Two WWE Championship reigns. A Grand Slam champion. Rivalries with John Cena, Roman Reigns, The Undertaker, Samoa Joe, Randy Orton, and Finn Balor have produced some of the best matches in WWE television and pay-per-view history over the past decade. The man showed up late to the biggest stage in the business and proceeded to have a decade-long run that most wrestlers half his age would trade their careers for.

His retirement came at the Royal Rumble this year, 10 years after his WWE debut, when Gunther beat him in what was a hell of a match and a proper send-off. There was a full tribute on RAW last night before The Undertaker made the Hall of Fame announcement, and by all accounts, it was handled with the respect Styles earned. Getting that news delivered by The Undertaker, in his home state, with his family there, is about as good a send-off as this business offers anyone. Certainly better than what Goldberg and John Cena got.

Two-time WWE Champion. Grand Slam Champion. Multiple-time TNA NWA/TNA Champion. ROH Champion. IWGP Champion. Plus, he held a ton of other titles from X-Division, United States, tag teams, etc. AJ Styles is easily one of the greatest champions and pure workers of his generation. A guy who could go from five-star matches to entertaining promos to genuinely compelling character work without missing a beat.

AJ Styles is one of the greatest ever to do it.

Congratulations, Phenomenal One.

But of course, the question remains: Have we truly seen AJ Styles wrestle for the last time?

It’s been a little under sixteen years since I last wrote a A View From the Rafters column, and probably nine or so year since I last wrote a wrestling column. So, I’m a little rusty here. Going to try to make this a weekly feature here on the site, so they should get better as I get back into the swing of things.