WWE Champion AJ Styles has been compared to WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels on multiple occasions. It’s due to these comparisons between HBK and Styles that fans would like to see a dream match made reality at the 2017 Royal Rumble in San Antonio, Texas. Styles wants the match, the fans wanted the match, but Michaels doesn’t seem too interested.
In an interview with Troy Hughes and Kevin Hageland of 105.3 THE FAN, Michaels discussed the rumoured match between himself and Styles for the WWE Championship at next year’s Royal Rumble and stated that no one has talked to him about a potential return.
“No one has even contacted me about that show. I don’t know if anyone cares that I’m from there. I think the WWE has happily moved on from me.”
Michaels said that he has met Styles before and thinks he’s a great person and an athlete, but he has no desire to get back in the ring for one more match.
“I met AJ Styles once. He’s a phenomenal man. Very nice and very respectful young man and unbelievably talented. And I’m flattered that my name pops up darn near every week in people’s wish list in wrestling, but I’m very comfortable in my life being retired.”
Styles was on Post to Post with ESPN Sports Interviewer and former WWE Commentator Jonathan Coachman when he made mention of one of his dream matches being a fight against Michaels.
Shawn Michaels retired from professional wrestling in March of 2010 when he lost to The Undertaker in a Career vs. Streak match at WrestleMania 26.
Since that time, there have been several superstars who have wished he would return for one more match including his former student Daniel Bryan, who expressed his interest in a match with Michaels during a WWE 2K16 Community Q&A.
Both Michaels and Styles have a tremendous amount of accomplishments between each other and the different promotions they have worked for. Both men are multi-time tag team champions with Michaels teaming with Triple H as D-Generation X and Marty Jannetty as The Rockers while Styles teamed with Christopher Daniels.
In singles competition, both men have held several different midcard championships with Michaels as a former Intercontinental Champion and Styles as the X-Division Champion in TNA.
As far as world championships go, Shawn Michaels is a 4-time world champion in WWE while Styles first run as the WWE Champion is still ongoing, though he has won over 8 different world championships between Ring of Honor, TNA, and other indy promotions.
Both men have been heavily praised by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and both men have been given awards for having 5-Star matches and matches of the year. However, for as good as these men are, they have also both won an award for Worst Worked Match of the Year. For Michaels, worst match award came from his feud with the McMahons as a member of D-Generation X where Styles got the award for his involvement in the TNA reverse battle royal match; both in the year 2006.
This is one of the more heavily desired dream matches in recent memory, but it will remain nothing more than fantasy according to Michaels.
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