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Earlier tonight on SmackDown, a WWE Superstar made an indirect reference to AEW as part of his segment with Cody Rhodes. Fans have reacted to this and found that what he said made sense. This would be AJ Styles.
Tomorrow, WWE's latest premium live event will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, with The American Nightmare set to put his Undisputed WWE Championship on the line against The Phenomenal One in an "I Quit" match. This will also be a rematch as they faced each other for the title last month at Backlash: France.
During his promo, AJ Styles looked back at Cody Rhodes' career and he mentioned how he ended up quitting all the companies he'd worked at previously including WWE, ROH, and NJPW. Styles then indirectly referenced AEW, calling it the company he started, as he mentioned how Rhodes quit working there too.
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Fans took this as another way for WWE to reference the Jacksonville-based promotion. They also wondered why they named the other companies, but just hinted at All Elite Wrestling. Another fan claimed that this was Triple H's decision not to namedrop the company itself.
"You can mention Ring of Honor in WWE but not AEW?" one wondered.
"It's because Triple-H gets salty every time someone mentions AEW. Don't believe me, ask Sami," a fan claimed.
"He could’ve mentioned AEW," said another.
One fan also realized how it was ironic that they mentioned ROH but not AEW as Tony Khan owns both wrestling promotions. Some fans sympathized with Cody Rhodes' decision not to re-sign with them as he ended up being booed during the latter part of his time with the promotion.
"It’s funny because Tony owns ROH," another realized.
"Well, can you blame Cody quitting AEW?" one claimed.
AJ Styles recently reflected on his career heading to his match with Cody Rhodes
While speaking on Seconds Out, AJ Styles was recently asked who he'd like to face off in his potential retirement storyline or match in the future.
He mentioned how he was still unsure about anything related to that, but his focus was getting through tomorrow's match against Cody Rhodes. He then hinted at contemplating retirement based on the result of his match with The American Nightmare. At this point, he just wished to enjoy the weekend ahead of him.
"I'm not sure who that opponent is," Styles said. "I'm not sure what the story will be. I'm not sure of anything right now. I'm not sure that I'll make it out of tomorrow night without having to retire. Who knows what could happen? All I know is that today I'm gonna enjoy SmackDown, tomorrow I'm gonna tear the house down with Cody Rhodes, and I'm gonna enjoy both those." [2:00 – 2:19]
Fans will have to stay tuned tomorrow as this looks to be one of the more highly-anticipated matches on the card. It remains to be seen which star will be the one to say "I Quit."
