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One of the most memorable debuts in WWE history took place in 2016 when AJ Styles entered the 30-man Royal Rumble Match. In a recent interview, The Phenomenal One revealed that Vince McMahon had no idea who he was before the show.
Styles was best known for his time in IMPACT/TNA and Ring of Honor before joining WWE in 2016. In his first WWE appearance, the 45-year-old received a hugely positive reaction after entering the Royal Rumble from the number three spot.
On Mark Andrews' My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast, Styles discussed McMahon's lack of knowledge about his wrestling career prior to that moment:
"I'm not sure how I snuck in there. I think maybe the success of the BULLET CLUB helped for sure with maybe some of the [WWE] writers if they asked him, 'What do you think about AJ Styles?' I don't how it worked out, but I can tell you this, Vince McMahon had no idea who I was." (H/T POST Wrestling for the transcription)
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Styles lasted almost 29 minutes in the Royal Rumble before being eliminated by Kevin Owens. He also had a memorable face-off with Roman Reigns.
AJ Styles on Vince McMahon's initial plans for him
On the post-Royal Rumble episode of RAW, AJ Styles defeated Chris Jericho in a competitive 13-minute contest. The storyline led to a rematch at WrestleMania 32, where Jericho defeated the former IMPACT star in one of the most surprising outcomes of the night.
Styles added that Vince McMahon did not intend to use him in a prominent role on television following his Royal Rumble debut:
"There's no way because he had no plans for me after the Royal Rumble. I wasn't supposed to be at RAW the next day. Yeah, so he just thought it was a fluke that I got the pop that I did in Orlando [Royal Rumble venue] and I didn't need to be on TV, but I was, and I had a very basic match because I thought that Vince wanted to see a babyface be a babyface."
Shortly thereafter, Vince McMahon told Styles he had "a thousand guys that can do what you do." The WWE Executive Chairman wanted the veteran to adopt an aggressive style and work like a "Pitbull" in the ring.
Eight months after his debut, Styles defeated Dean Ambrose at Backlash 2016 to win the first of his two WWE Championships.
What are your thoughts on AJ Styles' WWE career so far? Let us know in the comments section below.
