What’s the story?
Region 8 News reported a theft case regarding the WWE Champion AJ Styles in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The Arkansas State University police reported the theft of a black bag containing and other items belonging to Styles; who was performing at a SmackDown Live Event this past Monday.
The contents of the bag included $1,000 US Dollars and $7,000 in Japanese yen. Other items reported stolen were his iPhone, Beats Headphones, a small screen TV, an Xbox 360, and six Xbox games.
Region 8 News requested more information but were denied it by the police.
In case you didn’t know...
Styles was in Jonesboro, Arkansas for a SmackDown Live exclusive house show this past Monday, January 16, 2017. On that show, Styles wrestled in the main event for the WWE Championship in a triple threat match against John Cena and Baron Corbin. Styles retained by DQ.
In an interview with ESPN, Styles talked about having several video game systems, but that he takes his Xbox 360 with him when on the road.
“Well, I actually take my Xbox 360 on the road. I still enjoy playing my 360 because the last game that they made for college football was 2014, so I have it just so I can play that game. There are also some games [for that system] that I never really got into, but now I really enjoy them, like this game called "Bullet Storm." I didn't realise how fantastic this game was at the time, but I'm rocking it right now and it's awesome. It's to a point where a lot the guys will go, "What game is that dude?" I'm like, "Dude it's actually kind of old." So yeah I still like rocking the 360.”
The heart of the matter
The fact that the information is just coming out now likely means that the police did not want too much information circulating around.
What’s next?
The case is still an ongoing investigation, so Styles will just have to rely on the police departments of Jonesboro to help recover his items.
Since most wrestlers stay in hotels while on the road, it is likely that someone broke into his hotel room and took the possessions listed.
Sportskeeda’s take
This is a sad turn of events in the case of the WWE Champion being robbed. There have been several incidents of wrestlers having to fend off invasions and robbers like WWE General Manager Daniel Bryan and former WWE superstar Shad Gaspard have in the past, but Styles never even had that chance because he was performing for the fans in attendance at Jonesboro.
If anything, this is another reason why fans should appreciate what wrestlers do. They spend most of the year on the road, work until their dog tired, and then unfortunate situations like this can happen and make things harder to deal with.
Styles may just have to replace all his items for the time being.
Tweet Speak
Styles has not tweeted about the theft, but his love of video games continued to shine through on twitter when promoting the Future Stars pack for WWE 2K17 which included his friends Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows; formerly of NJPW’s Bullet Club.