5 WCW rejects who became megastars in WWE

#4 AJ Styles

Years before becoming a global superstar in WWE, AJ Styles competed in WCW for a brief period of time. Styles spent the majority of his early career wrestling with indie promotions. His incredible athleticism hadn't gone unnoticed, and World Championship Wrestling offered him a contract in early 2001. This was a time when WCW was desperately trying to create new stars and was on its last legs.

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Styles was put in a tag team called Air Raid alongside Air Paris, who had worked with Styles before coming to WCW. The duo have appeared on three occasions on WCW's B-show, Thunder. Later, they were eliminated in the first round of a tournament to determine the first-ever Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions. WCW was bought off weeks later and Styles went on to carve a niche for himself in TNA and eventually WWE, where he became a legit main eventer and multi-time WWE Champion.

Styles is an industry veteran who plied his trade in promotions around the world before getting his due with WWE.

About the author

Abhilash Mendhe is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda with nearly five years of experience. He completed his MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Telecom Management in 2016 and worked with multiple banking institutions, including Tech Mahindra. While he started writing WWE articles for Sportskeeda in 2019 as a hobby, it eventually became a significant part of his professional journey.

Abhilash checks his articles thrice before sending them to the editing team, ensuring his work is highly accurate and reliable.

He has interviewed prominent pro wrestling personalities like Noam Dar, Angry Miz Girl, Brendan Cobbina, and Jesse Lambert. Abhilash is a big fan of AEW star Orange Cassidy, as he believes the former International Champion’s on-screen gimmick of an extremely lazy guy resonates with him.

Given the opportunity to script WWE’s next big storyline, Abhilash would treat fans to the second installment of The Bloodline Civil War. He would book Roman Reigns to re-form The Bloodline with The Usos and Sami Zayn upon his comeback. The angle would see The Tribal Chief-led group go head-to-head with The Rock, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Jacob Fatu in a blockbuster family feud.

When not reporting on pro wrestling, Abhilash likes to work out, go on walks, read, and explore new eateries.

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Edited by Kaushik Das