A.J. Styles celebrates after winning the WWE World Championship at Backlash. (Photo : YouTube/Andre Corbeil)
WWE World Champion A.J. Styles is having one of the best rookie years ever as he could be named Superstar of the Year at the end of 2016. He has played both the good and bad guy during this run but the latest rumors imply that he could turn babyface once again before WrestleMania 33.
Styles made his debut at the Royal Rumble in January before having a good feud with Chris Jericho that lasted for several months. He went on to elevate Roman Reigns' game during two classic PPV bouts before turning his attention to John Cena.
The 39-year-old superstar then proceeded to have classic matches with Cena at Money in the Bank and SummerSlam, both of which he won. Finally, he won the WWE World Championship from Dean Ambrose at Backlash and successfully defended it several times.
Styles will not be defending the WWE World title until December as he is going to be part of Team SmackDown at Survivor Series against Team Raw. He is facing Ambrose at the TLC PPV for his championship, as announced by Shane McMahon last week on Talking Smack.
The WWE World champs run as a heel has been great but there are reports stating that plans for him could change heading to WrestleMania 33. According to Sportskeeda, the WWE is planning to turn Styles babyface once again just in time for the biggest show of 2017.
The report pointed out that Styles is running out of good guys to face and his merchandise sales are doing great. If the WWE decides to turn him babyface, his sales would even do better which makes Vince McMahon very happy.
However, the WWE will have a problem turning Styles face with Cena coming back for revenge in January, per The Inquisitr. It is probably going to set up their title match at WrestleMania 33 but nothing has been confirmed regarding that.
Several reports have indicated that besides the Cena vs. Styles match, the WWE is hoping for a Cena vs. The Undertaker rematch at WrestleMania 33. If the company goes into that direction, it opens up the opportunity to turn Styles into one of the top babyfaces in the WWE.
Nevertheless, these are just rumors at the moment and should be taken with a grain of salt. Check out the video below to see Styles make his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble last January.
