AJ Styles is celebrating his 40th birthday today, and the only person who has done a better job at hiding his advanced age than WWE is Styles himself, who has spent his entire WWE existence churning out one fantastic performance after another.
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SportsMoney #InTheRingJUN 2, 2017 @ 09:58 AM40,067
AJ Styles Turned 40 Today And Definitely Won't Be In WWE's Long-Term Plans
Alfred Konuwa , CONTRIBUTOR
I write about men in tights and the money they make for men in suits.
AJ Styles is celebrating his 40th birthday today, and the only person who has done a better job at hiding his advanced age than WWE is Styles himself, who has spent his entire WWE existence churning out one fantastic performance after another.
AJ Styles WrestleMania 33 40 Credit: WWE.com
AJ Styles celebrated his 40th birthday on June 2, 1977.
Styles debuted at the Royal Rumble in 2016 to immediate fanfare and never looked back. He has since competed in back-to-back high-profile, one-on-one matches against legendary performers Chris Jericho and Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 32 and WrestleMania 33, respectively.
Styles is entrenched as one of WWE's top stars in the same vein as Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, and with Shinsuke Nakamura still struggling to find his footing on SmackDown Live, Styles is easily the top babyface on the entire brand.
As long as Styles is healthy, SmackDown Live will need to ride the former WWE champion through a down ratings season that has been more evident with Raw's alarmingly low ratings. Styles has been injury free for his first year and a half with the promotion, but he is not an ideal choice for WWE's long-term plans.
Not only is Styles 40, he's an old 40. A Kobe Bryant 40. The type of 40 that comes with much more wear and tear. Unlike Diamond Dallas Page, who was a legit 35-year-old rookie who got a late start in his in-ring career, Styles was a 18-year veteran before making his WWE debut. Styles' 18 years were spent on the anything goes, overly physical independent and international circuit, most notably working for ROH, TNA and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The independent wrestling scene has been vindicated by WWE's New Era and NXT, which has stockpiled talent of that ilk and, in many cases, made them even bigger stars.
Unfortunately, many veterans of the independent circuit have shown to be prone to injury as Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami, Tommaso Ciampa, Cesaro, Austin Aries, Seth Rollins and the recently retired Daniel Bryan—among others—have suffered significant injury.
Given Styles' high-risk offense, WWE would be wise to proceed with caution. There are currently 11 WWE Superstars who are 40 years of age or older, and the vast majority of them are either inactive or slotted in a lower midcard position.
Styles has spent almost 20 years being the exception to the rule with a hall of fame career that has easily lived up to his "phenomenal" moniker. Unfortunately, Father Time knows no exception, only patience.
There's a reason that so many WWE Superstars in Styles' age range tend to work a much lighter schedule if at all. And if WWE would like continued longevity from one of its premier workhorses, it would be wise to scale back his unrealistic workload.