AJ Styles bags Wrestler of the Year award

Former TNA star joined WWE last year

KARACHI: If there’s one wrestler who took the world by storm in 2016, it is AJ Styles. The former TNA star joined the WWE last year, making an explosive debut at Royal Rumble and went on to be the best performer all year round. The current WWE Champion, Styles was recognised as the ‘Wrestler of the Year’ by  Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI), an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1972. Styles received 51 % of votes for the top honour in PWI's 44th Annual Achievement Award ballots.

‘The Phenomenal One’ was TNA’s main star until he joined New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in 2014. Two years in Japan propelled him as the most talented star yet to be signed by WWE. But that was bound to change when he made a surprise entrance in the Royal Rumble match and went on to have a high-profile feud with veteran Chris Jericho. He became the first wrestler to compete at NJPW’s biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom and WWE’s Wrestlemania in the same year. For Styles, the only way was to go up and that he did, having main event rivalries with Roman Reigns for the WWE championship, as well as beating John Cena on multiple occasions and carrying the Smackdown Live with his feud against Dean Ambrose.



2016 was perhaps the most impressive year for the WWE debutant, as Styles finally won the WWE Championship at Backlash. And what makes him a special superstar is that despite being a heel and totally new to the WWE audience, the 39-year-old connected with fans on day one and has regularly been cheered over the face wrestlers (good guys).

As he prepares to defend his WWE title against Cena at Royal Rumble on January 29, he adds one more accolade to his list: Wrestler of the Year. Unlike Wrestling Observer, Pro Wrestling Illustrated maintains kayfabe (term for working within the fictional realm of pro wrestling), and readers vote for the awards. With Styles delivering instant classic matches, one after another, this year, it’s no surprise that he was declared the number one guy.

Roman Reigns followed Styles at the second position, with current Universal Champion Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose on third and fourth spot, respectively. Interestingly, Reigns was also the voted the ‘Most Hated Wrestler of the Year’, when in fact, he is presented as the good guy. It’s possibly the first time that a full-fledged face has been voted the most hated wrestler, making it clear that WWE’s three-year Roman Reigns experiment has clearly failed.

Wrestler of the Year wasn’t the only award that Styles won as his match against Cena at Summerslam 2016 was voted the Match of the Year as well. In an epic clash which saw the 15-time WWE Champ use everything in his arsenal to put down the newcomer, Styles came out on top to establish himself as the new face that runs the place.



Furthermore, The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods) won the Tag Team of the Year, as they were the tag team champions all year round and became the longest reigning tag champions of all time before losing it on December 18 to Cesaro and Sheamus. Styles’ NJPW colleague Shinsuke Nakamura won the Most Popular Wrestler of the Year, whereas Charlotte vs Sasha Banks won the feud of the year for their seven-month long rivalry which revolutionised the women’s wrestling. Goldberg won the Comeback of the Year for his return after 12 long years, and The Miz won the Most Improved Wrestler.

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