AJ Styles made one hell of a splash when he showed up in the Federation more than six years ago. The Phenomenal One confirmed the rumours were true when his music hit during that year's Royal Rumble match and he proceeded to clash with Roman Reigns. In 2022, Styles has done so much in WWE that it's easy to forget he made a name for himself, just about everywhere else he could before showing up.
More Matches In WWE Than Total Nonstop Action?
The bulk of his career was spent in Impact Wrestling, or TNA as it was still known while the two-time WWE Champion was competing there. The veteran was there for more than a decade, winning multiple titles and wrestling over 500 times. However, even though Styles has only been with WWE for a little more than half the time he was with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, it would appear he has already wrestled more matches for his current employers than his former ones.
This was first highlighted by Wrestle Ops... and that belief is backed up by The Internet Wrestling Database. According to the site's extensive stats, AJ wrestled 545 matches in TNA between 2004, with his final bout being in 2013. His WWE tally currently stands at 556 matches, meaning Styles' Dixieland record was broken when he and Dolph Ziggler beat the Alpha Academy (Chad Gable and Otis) on Raw back in July.
There's A Catch
...and it's a big one. The fans of the former TNA World champion will know that The Phenomenal One was a TNA Original. There from pretty much the very beginning, and not from 2004 which is when the IWD has him wrestling his first match for the promotion. That's because the matches he competed in prior to that fell under the NWA/TNA weekly PPV banner. 97 matches during that period apparently, so if you include them, his WWE run is 87 matches away from breaking the record.
Since Styles still competes in the Federation on a regular basis, it seems likely he will surpass that record too, eliminating all doubt. And in far less time than the 11 years it took him to wrestle that many matches between the National Wrestling Alliance and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Reports circulated at the start of the year that the former TNA X Division champion re-signed with WWE, but "Phenomenal" AJ Styles has also mentioned that his current deal will be his last in wrestling.
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