AJ Styles was born in Jacksonville, June 2, 1977. During his professional career, which began in January 1998, he wrestled in most of the major wrestling federations in the world: WWE, World Championship Wrestling, National Wrestling Alliance, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. He is also the only wrestler in history to have held at least one world title in WWE, NWA, NJPW and TNA.

In TNA he won the World Heavyweight Championship twice, the X Division Championship six times, the King of the Mountain Championship twice and the World Tag Team Championship twice (with Kurt Angle and with Tyson Tomko), making him the first wrestler in the history of the federation to have completed the Grand Slam. In NJPW he held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship twice and was the third leader of the Bullet Club.

In WWE he captured the WWE Championship twice, the United States Championship three times, the Intercontinental Championship once and the Raw Tag once Team Championship (with Omos), becoming the twenty-second wrestler in the history of the federation to have completed the Grand Slam; moreover, his second reign as WWE Champion, which lasted 371 days (from November 7, 2017 to November 13, 2018), is the eighth longest in the history of the title.

Styles is considered one of the best wrestlers of all time, so much so that he was listed by Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine in first place in the PWI 500 rankings in 2010 and to be indicated as the best athlete of the decade 2010-2020.