WWE News: AJ Styles has already made WWE history in 2018

What's the story?

AJ Styles had made history on the first day of 2018 by being just one of six men in the WWE to start and end a calendar year (2017) holding the WWE Title. He joins Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, John Cena and, of course, CM Punk as the only superstars to have done so in WWE history.

In case you didn't know...

AJ Styles won his first WWE Title at Backlash on September 11th, 2016 defeating Dean Ambrose to claim his first world title within the WWE. He then lost the title against John Cena during 2017's Royal Rumble in late January.

It would be another ten months before he'd win back the title, by defeating Jinder Mahal at a taping of SmackDown LIVE in Manchester, England. This was a history-making title change as it was the first time the WWE Title had changed hands outside of North America.

The heart of the matter

That wasn't the only record that AJ would break to make history, as he's joined another prestigious list of record breakers by keeping hold of the title for the remainder of 2017, opening and closing the year out as WWE Champion.

Only five other men have accomplished this, with Bruno Sammartino doing it incredible ten time during 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974, 1975 and 1976. Bob Backlund has also achieved this feat four times with Hulk Hogan also managing it three times.

The last person to achieve this record was CM Punk during his lengthy title reign in 2012, and before that, it was John Cena in 2006. This makes AJ Styles the first person to do this in nine years.

What's next?

'The Phenomenal' AJ Styles seems to have proven himself to the powers that be in the WWE and seems set to continue his prominent run as the face of SmackDown LIVE heading into 2018, which means he's sure to break some more records and make some more history before he's done with the company.

Author's take

It's almost a shame that AJ's title run was broken up with John Cena, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal all winning the title in 2017 before it made its way back to Styles, but hopefully, this goes to show just how good Styles is.