AJ Styles Talks Rumble Debut & Keeping His Name Before WWE Untold Special
‘The Phenomenal One’ has spoken of his WWE debut and a conversation with Triple H about keeping the name AJ Styles, ahead of a new documentary launching this weekend.
The Royal Rumble will always be landmark point in the wrestling calendar for AJ Styles.
Making his debut at number 3 in the 2016 Rumble, Styles was propelled straight to the main stage in WWE.
In a recent interview with Newsweek, ‘The Phenomenal One’ spoke of his debut and not knowing what involvement he was going to have in the match.
I was told zero things. Nobody kept me in the loop, so I was waiting around thinking, ‘I hope I can get into the Royal Rumble. That’d be cool, but I’d understand if I’m not’
Styles will be the focus of a new WWE Network ‘Untold’ special which drops this Sunday.
The documentary reveals that his long-time friend from Impact Samoa picked him up to go to the building for his debut.
Apart from that, he kept quiet about his involvement.
I didn’t really tell anybody because it was one of things where I didn’t really know. Was I actually going to be in the Rumble, or was I going to be doing something in the Rumble? I didn’t know, so yeah, I didn’t tell a soul, as crazy as that sounds.
As with anyone joining WWE, there are issues around keeping names used elsewhere.
However, Styles recalls a discussion with Triple H which made it very difficult for WWE to go with any other options.
I remember Triple H and I talking, and he said, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to be able to keep your name’. I said, ‘That’s fine. I have no problem. Just so you know, I have this huge tattoo on my side that says AJ. It’s not my name—it’s my kids’ initials and birthdays, but just throwing that out there.’ Luckily, I was able to keep the whole name AJ Styles, and it worked out for the best.
