Probably no other wrestler in the world has as good a year as AJ Styles had in 2016, but unfortunately he’s been bitten by that dastardly WWE injury bug right as the year is winding down. In the main event of TLC last Sunday, Styles ended up suffering what was reported as being a “minor” ankle injury. The injury ended up keeping Styles out of action on Smackdown Live last week, postponing his scheduled WWE Championship defense against James Ellsworth and almost surely depriving us of an instant classic.
Now he’s missed some more dates, as he was unable to work this past weekend’s WWE live events. He was scheduled to face Dean Ambrose in the main event of those Smackdown-branded house shows, which instead went with new main events where Ambrose took on Bray Wyatt instead.
Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE is hopeful Styles will be able to be cleared to return to action on Tuesday night’s episode of Smackdown Live. He’ll face Ellsworth on that show if he’s able to wrestle. Regardless of how long he’ll be out of action, WWE is planning of keeping him on television until he’s at full strength, because WWE is well aware the Blue Brand revolves around the best damn wrestler in the world.
So let’s hope Styles is ready to go on Tuesday, and silently marvel yet again what an absolutely lights-out few years the guy has had since leaving TNA. Just … wow.
