We’re only two days into 2018 and WWE Champion AJ Styles already made history this year as of yesterday. Styles became the sixth man; alongside Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan, John Cena and, CM Punk to have started and ended a calendar year with the WWE Championship.
“The Phenomenal One” won the WWE Title from Dean Ambrose back in 2016 at a Backlash pay-per-view (PPV) event. He then lost the title to John Cena at the 2017 Royal Rumble PPV before picking it back up again this past November against Jinder Mahal during a SmackDown Live taping in Manchester, England during the WWE’s European tour. He successfully retained his title against Mahal at Night Of Champions and retained the title into the new year as of yesterday.
He also made history last year when he defeated Mahal for the title in Manchester, becoming the first-ever Superstar to win the WWE Championship outside of North America. To say the least, Styes’ 2017 year was nothing short of “Phenomenal,” and it should be a pleasure to see what he accomplishes in 2018.