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Since his shocking debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble, AJ Styles has been one of WWE's greatest stars. It's almost shocking that he's been with the promotion for seven years already, but in that time Styles has done it all, becoming a two-time WWE Champion, as well as being an Intercontinental, United States, and Raw Tag Team Champion. He also has the distinction of being The Undertaker's last match ever at WrestleMania 36. At the age of 45, Styles' legendary and Hall of Fame worthy career is close to coming to an end. In December, however, during a rejuvenating run with his faction, The OC, Styles suffered a brutal injury that has kept him out of action ever since.
AJ Styles Was Having A Great 2022 In WWE
Though AJ Styles' days as a world champion are probably past, it didn't mean that he was slowing down. After hitting a rut in the oddly put together pairing with Omos, Styles' career took an upward swing when WWE brought Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows back to the company, quickly putting them back with Styles to reform The OC. The faction got even better when Triple H also brought back the released Mia Yim and put her in the group. It was refreshing to see such an underrated talent put with one of WWE's greats. As long as this trio was connected to AJ Styles, they couldn't fail.
The latter half of 2022 saw The OC feud with The Judgment Day. It was a perfect combination of face versus heel, faction of four versus faction of four. It was great long term storytelling, which first saw Styles feuding with original Judgment Day leader Edge, before his friend, Finn Balor, turned on him to set up his next feud. At Crown Jewel in November, The OC was unsuccessful at beating The Judgment Day, but at Surivior Series shortly after, Styles made up for that by beating Balor. Then the worst happened.
RELATED: Mia Yim Returns To WWE On Monday Night Raw
AJ Styles Breaks His Ankle At A WWE Live Event
On December 28, 2022, at a WWE live event in Hershey, Pennsylvania, The OC combination of Styles, Anderson, and Gallows were taking on The Judgment Day team of Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and Damian Priest. When Styles jumped over the top rope to the floor in a move he's done thousands of times, he landed wrong and broke his ankle. Styles was unable to continue and his OC stablemates had to help him to the back.
Three days later, Styles took to Twitter to let wrestling fans know what happened, saying, "Just want you guys to know that I’m ok. Broken ankle is what I’m dealing with. No surgery, this just takes some time to recover. This will be the longest I've ever been out of the ring. Thanks for the prayers and get well wishes."
RELATED: The OC: Why WWE's Version Of The Bullet Club Failed
AJ Styles Has Had A Mostly Injury Free WWE Career
For someone who takes such risky, high-flying moves, it's impressive that Styles hasn't been injured more often. In 2020, Styles separated his shoulder in the Men's Royal Rumble, but the ankle injury is by far the worst he's had.
Earlier this month, Mia Yim talked to Rich Ucchnino of the Bleav in Pro Wrestling podcast, where she spoke about Styles' injury. “Being there was scary. I’ve broken my ankle before, and when I saw what happened, asked him what happened, I was like, get out. Karl, get in, finish this match. We’ll figure it out later.The biggest thing is, his attitude was always… he was joking the whole time, laughing, smiling. Even when some of the guys were like, ‘I’m so sorry,’ he’s like, ‘It’s part of the business.’ He just had a great attitude that you couldn’t feel like it was a damper in the air. So AJ’s just that good of a person, in my opinion. Being with the boys, without AJ, even before he did live events with us, we were still out doing our thing, too. So it’s like we’re just gonna keep doing our thing. We’re here for AJ, we’re gonna support him, but we’re also gonna show him that, in your absence, the group is gonna be okay. When you come back, we’re gonna be ready for you.” (h/t Yahoo!)
Unfortunately, Anderson, Gallows, and Yim have barely been used on WWE Raw since Styles' injury. There has been no immediate timetable given for his return, but seeing as no surgery was required, he'll presumably be back sooner rather than later. With WrestleMania just a few weeks away, it won't be until after before he returns to WWE. Hopefully The OC can resume the top spot they had on Raw before December.
