AJ Styles’ Brief Stint In WCW, Explained
Elijah King
Published Mar 27, 2026
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Even though he has been wrestling for almost a quarter of a century, AJ Styles is still a peak performer, as he shows fans every week on WWE Raw. Though he built his name as the face of TNA Wrestling in the 2000s, Styles has been a major presence in WWE and a multi-time champion ever since his phenomenal debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble. Though WWE looks to be where his career will end, he got his first chance to wow a worldwide audience in 2001, when during the last weeks of WCW’s existence, AJ Styles gave fans a taste of what was to come.
AJ Styles Was Part Of A Tag Team In WCW
AJ Styles began his wrestling career in 1998. During the late 90s he wrestled mostly for NWA Wildside out of Georgia, where he picked up his ring name, as well as the attention of World Championship Wrestling.
In the beginning of 2001, Styles signed with WCW. In February, just a month before the promotion would be bought by WWE, Styles made his WCW debut. He would be put in a high flying tag team with a wrestler named Air Paris, who Styles had previously worked with in NWA Wildside. Together they were called Air Raid, a hint to their aerial attacks. There have certainly been worse names in the latter days of WCW.
In their one month in WCW, Air Raid was given a decent push. They teamed together numerous times on Thunder, making their debut on Valentine’s Day against Jamie Noble and Evan Karagias. A week later they would take on The Boogie Knights, who were made up of Disco Inferno and Alex Wright.
On March 5th, AJ Styles got to compete on WCW’s A-show, Nitro, when Air Raid was part of a tournament for the new WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship. In the first round they were knocked out by Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo. Three weeks later, WCW would be no more, and AJ Styles, whose career appeared to be on the upswing, suddenly found himself without a job just as quickly as he’d gotten it.
RELATED: 10 Things Fans Should Know About The WCW Tag Team Championships
AJ Styles Says He Wasn’t Ready To Be In WCW
Last year, on WWE’s The Bump, Styles spoke about his very brief time in World Championship and the company’s demise. “I had a contract so I knew I'd be coming back for a couple more matches. Now, I didn't know WCW was going to go out of business. That sucked for me. But it is what it is and things happen for a reason. I wasn't ready to be in WCW and I sure as heck wasn't ready to be in WWE so I'm glad that things happened the way they did. I'm happy for the experience but the timing wasn't right.”
AJ Styles may be happy with how things turned out, and it certainly worked into his favor, because WCW’s continued existence would have sent him on a different path, but still, you have to wonder what would have become in AJ Styles in WCW had the promotion continued on. It would still be a few years before AJ Styles became a huge star in TNA, but maybe that would’ve happened in WCW as well. Say what you will about their last days (and there’s a lot of bad to talk about), but WCW should be commended for at least trying something different and pushing young and newer wrestlers in their last year. There’s a good chance AJ Styles would have received a big push had WCW kept going.
RELATED: 10 Things TNA Fans Should Know About AJ Styles Vs. Christopher Daniels' Rivalry & Tag Team
AJ Styles Would Also Have A Short Stint In WWE After WCW Folded
A few months later, in July 2021, AJ Styles arrived in WWE a decade and a half before his Royal Rumble re-debut, where he got to work a dark match on Raw. In 2002, he would get a few more chances in WWE, including a televised match on Metal where he put over The Hurricane. WWE then offered him a developmental deal that would involve Styles moving to Ohio. Shockingly, Styles said no because it would have forced his family to move while his wife was still in college.
It shows how humble AJ Styles is to admit that he wasn’t ready when his big moment came, and to put his wife’s goals above his own. Luckily, it all worked out. Styles would go to Ring of Honor, but we all remember how he ruled the roost in TNA, where he won a plethora of titles, including three heavyweight championships, in his twelve-year run.
Vince McMahon didn’t think fans would know who AJ Styles was when he reached the spotlight of WWE in 2016, but the reaction he got impressed McMahon and led to Styles collecting even more titles for his future Hall of Fame resume. And to think, it all started as WCW was ending.
