Very few wrestlers competing today are better and more recognizable than AJ Styles. Styles has been a world champion in every major promotion that he's signed with over the last few decades. Despite his undisputed status as a main event star, Styles started his career in televised wrestling as a tag team performer in the often forgotten Air Raid. On occasion, AJ Styles has returned to the tag team division with some of the best talents in the world.
For every Bullet Club they have, there is a Christian Coalition that is far less successful. Not all of AJ's returns to tag team wrestling have been with legendary wrestlers we remember. Some of the Styles' runs with a partner have been forgettable or actively horrible for the fans.
10 Best: Kenny Omega
Kenny Omega and AJ Styles currently represent the top two promotions in North America, but before then, they were both members and eventual leaders of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Bullet Club. While predominately singles competitors, the two did team together for one match in Japan.
While the two competitors eventually became rivals, their one-tag team outing was a fun match. They were able to beat YOSHI-HASHI and "The King of Strong Style" Shinsuke Nakamura on 2016's Wrestle Kingdom card. AJ was soon to be departing for WWE, and Kenny would eventually supplant him as leader of the Bullet Club, but before they fought, fans had one match to view two of the best team-up.
9 Worst: Randy Savage
Very few of today's top talent can say they worked with the legendary "Macho Man" Randy Savage. AJ did have that honor in his early career as one of Impact Wrestling's home-grown stars. However, the Macho Man that Styles tagged with for one night only was sadly not the same Savage that fans were constantly cheering for in his prime during the 1980s.
Savage was unhappy and did not want to wrestle the match, so AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy did the match against TNA's Kings of Wrestling team. He eventually ran down toward the end and landed a few punches to pin one of the company's frequent world champions, Jeff Jarrett. Although AJ Styles gets to say he teamed with one of the greats, it was not one of AJ's better teams despite earning the win.
8 Best: Christopher Daniels
AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels were among the best tag teams in the early years of TNA Impact. The duo teamed up initially in 2005 and used their chemistry as real-life friends to shoot to the top of the card relatively quickly. From there, the tag team sent a bolt of energy to the division as they had with the X-Division as rivals.
Their stories as a team always resulted in stellar matchups, with one of their first feuds involving challenging every one of the tag teams in the division to prove they were fighting champions. Daniels was every bit Styles' equal in the ring, putting on stellar matches at that time. Each match elevated the unit every time they defended the titles. At the same time, TNA had a lot of less than exciting stories, particularly in 2006, but Styles and Daniels as a duo always delivered.
7 Worst: Omos
AJ Styles is one of the best wrestlers on the planet, and he has had a long career of tag team excellence and singles stardom. Unfortunately, even though his pairing with Omos was technically one of his most successful runs in WWE, it was without a doubt one of his worst.
AJ couldn't shine, constantly needing to be the punching bag so the far more limited Omos could get the glory. AJ was not only limited with his partner, but he had limited competition. The Raw tag team division has since improved, but at the time, Omos and AJ had very few competitors for the titles. Hence, AJ often needed to carry his inexperienced partner and their opponents to suitable matches whenever The New Day was unavailable to help him out.
6 Best: Luke Gallows/Karl Anderson
AJ Styles was one of the top heels in New Japan Pro Wrestling from 2014 into 2016, when he took over as the leader of the promotion's Bullet Club. Two of the faction's other members, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, quickly became AJ's muscle, and the three ran roughshod over the roster for a brief time.
When AJ made the jump to WWE in 2016, his Bullet Club partners came shortly after, and the three continued to dominate. While the Club as a duo never found the same success that AJ did in WWE, the team was near unbeatable when AJ was their leader, feuding with international stars like Tetsuya Naito in NJPW and wrestling legends like John Cena.
5 Worst: Finn Balor
While the "new club" team of Finn Balor and AJ Styles at Wrestlemania Backlash 2022 was thrown together, it did give some fans hope. Balor and AJ work very similar high-octane styles, and both are perpetually over with the live crowds despite being misused.
Even though Finn and AJ had several solid matches against Judgement Day and Los Lotharios, the split was always on the horizon. Also, the duo was put together to help everyone but AJ in the first place. The abrupt end of the pairing after the Hell in a Cell 2022 event ultimately sealed what could have been one of the Styles' best partners clearly into the worst column.
4 Best: Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle and AJ Styles are both rightfully in the conversation for best wrestler ever, and certainly for Impact Wrestling, formerly known as TNA. Depending on the age of the fans having the conversation, you can point to classic matches for both across several promotions. The two greats worked together on Impact, but in 2012, they were not adversaries carrying the main event scene; they were TNA World Tag Team Champions.
The two teamed up briefly as part of The Angle Alliance in 2007. Still, their proper run at the top of the tag team division started years later and culminated with a championship win at Slammiversary, the company's biggest show. Part of what makes the Angle and AJ team so revered by fans is that the two top stars teamed up during the Claire Lynch storyline, so the team gave Styles a chance to make some compelling television during that period.
3 Worst: Tomko
Tomko and AJ Styles have teamed together not once but twice, which has been relatively disappointing each time. Despite having two high-profile stories and a championship run, the team never clicked, and AJ never felt like a star with Tomko on his side, partly because they were always in a larger faction.
In the ring, they were certainly not dull, but AJ Styles has teamed with several more skilled and charismatic performers. The lack of spotlight on AJ and Tomko throughout their alliance is telling, given that they held the promotion's tag team titles for 180 days and still were treated as an afterthought. Had Styles been paired directly with a bigger star like Christian instead of his muscle, it may have had a more significant impact.
2 Best: Chris Jericho
Y2AJ didn't last for very long, and even some of Styles's worst allies throughout the years have proven to be more successful partners. Still, when Chris Jericho and AJ Styles teamed immediately after AJ's debuted in 2016, it made both men feel more important, starting off another chapter of Jericho and AJ's storied careers.
The two wrestled precisely as you'd expect in every match, like two of the best in the industry. Considering that fans were so visibly upset that the team seemed destined to separate was proof that a full paring for the two could have resulted in excellent results. Even though AJ Styles was only partnered with Jericho for a brief time, it also led to a major match at WrestleMania, cementing Jericho's importance to AJ Styles's career in WWE.
1 Worst: Abyss
Abyss and AJ Styles are two of the biggest stars that Impact has ever produced, and that both weren't former WWE stars when they arrived at the Impact Zone makes that feat even more phenomenal. However, despite being two of the promotions top stars ever, their teaming together was a major letdown. Their rivalry was one of the better early parts of the product in 2006, which also made their alliance a bit confusing.
The team was originally formed using the tired "rivals turned allies" trope commonly found in wrestling. While it did result in a championship win, the story called for them to never defend the titles as a team that dragged the division down.