AJ Styles Reportedly Dealing With Hip Injury

AJ Styles walked out of WrestleMania 35 victorious when he beat Randy Orton with a Phenomenal [...]

By Connor Casey

AJ Styles walked out of WrestleMania 35 victorious when he beat Randy Orton with a Phenomenal Forearm at MetLife Stadium. But based on a new report from Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer, he didn't leave unscathed.

The former WWE Champion is reportedly dealing with a hip injury. Though the severity was not revealed, Meltzer said Styles was not scheduled to appear at SmackDown Live on Tuesday night. Styles announced back in March that he had signed a new contract with the WWE, closing off any potential for him to return to the independent scene for the foreseeable future. After spending the bulk of his career in TNA (Impact) Wrestling, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Styles finally joined the WWE in early 2016. He's since gone on ot hold the WWE and United States Championships twice, and most recently was SmackDown Live's world champion for more than a full calendar year. His feud with Orton spawned over "The Viper" taking issues with Styles calling SmackDown "The House That AJ Styles built."

Joining Styles in the winner's circle on Sunday was a crop of brand new champions. To name a few, Becky Lynch won both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships, Seth Rollins won the WWE Universal Championship and Kofi Kingston defeated Daniel Bryan to become the new WWE Champion. The only champs to retain their titles on Sunday both came from the Blue Brand — United States Champion Samoa Joe squashed Rey Mysterio in just one minute, while The Usos kept the SmackDown Tag Team Championships by winning a fatal four-way against The Bar, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev and Ricochet and Aleister Black.

In an interview with ESPN back in October, Styles talked about how all his years of hard work finally paid off with his latest WWE Championship reign.

"That's what you work for, is to be recognized," Styles said. "It's nice to know that the hard work that you've put in all these years is finally getting the, I don't want to say praise, but you know. I busted my tail for so long, I'm just glad it's getting recognized now as part of the WWE. Because let's face it, the WWE is the biggest company out there when it comes to wrestling. I'm just happy that I'm being recognized as somebody who works hard, I guess."

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