AJ Styles made his WWE debut at Royal Rumble 2016 although there were rumours of him leaving NJPW to join Vince McMahon’s promotion as early as January. There was speculation that he would be debuting alongside his partners in crime, fellow Bullet Club members, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson but it ended up being a solo debut with Anderson and Gallows making their debuts later in the year.
Styles’ debut took place in Orlando at the Royal Rumble where he was welcomed by a crowd of thousands with a loud pop from the fans in attendance. He spoke about this moment in a recent interview with Sporting News saying:
“I mean, how can you forget something like that? Your debut and not only did you debut in WWE, but it was at the Royal Rumble and the WWE Universe went nuts for it. I don't know if I can ever top that. I'm going to give it a shot, but I don't know if I can ever top it.”
Styles beat John Cena at SummerSlam just last week in a match that was elevated beyond almost every fan’s expectations due to both Cena and Styles’ level of skill as well as Cena’s ability to sell the loss incredibly well as if to pass the proverbial torch to someone fresh. Although not an amateur, Styles is still new to the WWE roster and was often overlooked by fans but this match changed all of that. This was the one match that had the potential to top Styles’ debut but if WWE’s booking strategy is something to go by, we might see plenty of incredible matches and moments from the ex-NJPW wrestler.
In its recent proceedings, WWE has seen Styles along with fellow ex-NJPW wrestlers Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows push towards the headline matchup at the upcoming Backlash pay-per-view where he’s set to face Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This surprised some fans since Styles has had less than a year in WWE but it looks like both the Club and their leader, the Phenomenal A.J Styles are here to stay at the top of the food chain.
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