By Ryan Frye
Professional wrestling is an industry built on creating moments. But a moment would be nothing but a distant memory without a camera to capture the energy, emotion and electricity of that moment forever. Perhaps that's why they've always claimed that a picture is worth a thousand words. And that very notion is the reason for the existence of this series: Picture Perfect.
Today, after a long absence, Picture Perfect is back.
Professional wrestling is an industry built on creating moments. But a moment would be nothing but a distant memory without a camera to capture the energy, emotion and electricity of that moment forever. Perhaps that's why they've always claimed that a picture is worth a thousand words. And that very notion is the reason for the existence of this series: Picture Perfect.
Today, after a long absence, Picture Perfect is back.
SETTING THE SCENE
Almost every big name in the wrestling world one day steps foot into the WWE.
Many are created by the machine, like The Rock, Steve Austin and John Cena. Some come in with some hype from the outside, and build on that foundation from within the WWE, like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins.
A select few, though, make themselves stars. They don't need the WWE, but they make the WWE need them.
In 2014—at the age of 55 and after 29 years in the wrestling business—we saw the man considered to be the greatest to never be in the WWE finally step foot inside Vince McMahon's empire. That was the man they call Sting.
For Sting, the previous generation's biggest holdout, his brief time in the WWE has served as a final notch in his belt before he hangs up his boots for good.
For this generation's biggest holdout, though, it's a bit of a different story.
PAINTING THE PICTURE
The 2016 Royal Rumble was the story of One Versus All, Roman Reigns defending his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against 29 other men.
Reigns entered number one and made quick work of the number two entrant, Rusev, before the clock ticked down on the third entrant into the match.
The crowd counted down with the clock. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
An unfamiliar song sounds throughout Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. "I am" flashes on the titantron. Next, "phenomenal" appears, and the capacity crowd of over 17,000 roars.
"Can it be? It is! The Phenomenal One is here! AJ Styles! It has been rumored for weeks that the hottest free agent in sports entertainment was heading to WWE. Styles is here!" shouts an excited Michael Cole.
"Former IWPG Champion, same as Brock Lesnar," adds JBL.
"An 18 year veteran, a mastermind of offensive innovation!" says Byron Saxton.
A moment 18 years in the making had arrived. The Phenomenal, the world traveled AJ Styles had finally stepped onto the grandest stage in professional wrestling. A place that once shunned him had practically handed him a blank check to walk through their curtain.
And the first man AJ Styles stepped into the ring with? Well, the aforementioned WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, of course. Because anything else would've fallen far short of phenomenal.
The former face of TNA lasted 27:53 in the match, the fourth longest of anyone.
He eliminated Tyler Breeze and Curtis Axel. He'd lock horns with not only Roman Reigns, but also the likes of Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Big Show and the man that ultimately eliminated him, Kevin Owens.
The question following his impressive debut was quite simple: what's next for AJ Styles?
THE AFTERMATH
The following night, it was announced that AJ Styles would make his RAW debut in a dream match against Chris Jericho.
The former face of TNA lasted 27:53 in the match, the fourth longest of anyone.
He eliminated Tyler Breeze and Curtis Axel. He'd lock horns with not only Roman Reigns, but also the likes of Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose, Big Show and the man that ultimately eliminated him, Kevin Owens.
The question following his impressive debut was quite simple: what's next for AJ Styles?
THE AFTERMATH
The following night, it was announced that AJ Styles would make his RAW debut in a dream match against Chris Jericho.
Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles is a match that many fans have fantasy booked for years, and on Monday night, we finally saw a glimpse of what those two are capable of in the ring together.
The two men with somewhat parallel careers lit it up in arguably the highlight of this past week's RAW.
They went back and forth before Styles defeated the six-time world champion with a roll-up.
After the match, Styles offered a handshake and Jericho reluctantly accepted. Just as AJ pulled out, however, Jericho pulled him back in with an intense staredown.
Then, on SmackDown, Styles answered a challenge from the Social Outcasts by beating Curtis Axel with the Styles Clash; a move that had only been teased previously.
We don't know what the future holds for AJ Styles, but if his past is any indication, he's only just beginning another phenomenal chapter in his legendary career.
Picture Perfect was a WrestleEnigma original series, and although WrestleEnigma officially closed its doors a year ago, you can check out the past articles from this series at this link.
