A.J. Styles had one of the best years in WWE history in 2016. One might even call it…phenomenal, but most of the things that were good in WWE last year involved Styles. Many said his contest with John Cena at Summerslam was the best match of the year. His feuds with Cena and Roman Reigns are among the ‘Rivalry of the Year’ contenders. He won the WWE Championship, and his debut at the Royal Rumble was among the best moments of 2016. And, plain and simple, perhaps no one on the roster put out as consistent of quality as “The Phenomenal One” did.
But, just because we love him on the Internet, doesn’t necessarily mean it translates to dollars. After all, guys like Neville and Sami Zayn continually put on good matches. But, I can’t imagine they’re making main event level money.
Writeup courtesy of IWNerd.com:
We stumbled upon an interesting thread from reddit this weekend talking about how AJ Styles was rumored to have turned down $60 thousand dollars from WWE to go to NXT (in 2015). As we now know, this didn’t end up happening and AJ made his debut on the main roster at the 2016 Royal Rumble.
First of all, let’s talk about this little rumor, because I’m new to it. There’s no way in hell I could’ve imagined Styles in NXT. I’m sorry – it may be the best wrestling under the WWE umbrella right now – but, could you imagine Styles in NXT? I can certainly understand putting all of your guys through development just for a quick brush-up on the WWE style, but it’s obvious that Styles was ready to become The Champ that Runs the Camp from the jump.
It appears as if AJ gambled on himself and it payed off in a big way. This is according to some information on how much money AJ reportedly earned in 2016 from WWE.
The information comes for Forbes where they used public filings, booking and pay documents along with interviews with industry insiders. This helped them determine (approximately) how much Styles earned from the company in 2016.
According to Forbes, AJ Styles made $2.4 million in 2016.
So, there it is. It’s an approximate number, but a lot of credible resources went into figuring it. And, in case you’re curious, Styles comes in at #6 on the highest-paid WWE wrestlers of 2016. The five men who earned more were:
5. Dean Ambrose – $2.7 million
4. Roman Reigns – $3.5 million
3. Triple H – $3.8 million
2. John Cena – $8 million
1. Brock Lesnar – $12 million
I don’t think anyone would be surprised with that top four, but the fact that Ambrose is so high on this list is a little surprising to me. It feels like that ship has somewhat sailed, but hey – what do I know?
Regardless, Styles is among the best wrestlers on the planet. I’m happy to see that he’s being paid like one, too.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. A strong advocate of GSD (get shit done) and #BeBetter, he’s down to talk Tennessee Titans and Alabama Crimson Tide football over a beer any day. Check him out covering the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
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