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What's the story?
In a recent episode of Edge & Christian’s Pod of Awesomeness, US Champion AJ Styles speaks about Vince McMahon's thoughts on his Royal Rumble debut in 2016.
In case you didn't know...
AJ Styles, a veteran of pro wrestling, debuted way back in 1998, and also made a few appearances on WWE, before embarking on a wrestling career which took him all over the world.
Styles had a dream run in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (currently known as Impact Wrestling), which began in 2002 and ended a decade later in 2013, and also spent a few years in Ring of Honor (ROH). He returned to Ring of Honor (ROH) between 2014 and 2016, simultaneously wrestling in Japan's New Japan Pro Wrestling.
The Phenomenal One was a surprise entry in 2016's Royal Rumble when he entered into the competition at No. 3.
The heart of the matter
In his appearance at Edge & Christian’s Pod of Awesomeness, Styles said that it was a crazy feeling to make his WWE debut, that too at Royal Rumble and also spoke about Vince McMahon's reaction to his entry at Royal Rumble.
The current United States Champion said that he felt that McMahon considered the fans' positive reaction to his Royal Rumble appearance as a 'fluke': "I think Vince thought it was fluke. I had a match, a typical babyface match and Vince went 'I have tons of guys who can have that match. Where's this freakin' pitbull, this attack dog'. Oh, you want that guy, I can be that guy," said Styles.
Also Read: WWE News: AJ Styles reveals when Vince McMahon was sold on him
Styles was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the WWE fans at Royal Rumble and called it 'unbelievable': "I think the reaction was unbelievable, I did not expect that. It was one of those things in WWE history [which] will be forever there because that kind of reaction I didn't expect; I don't think anybody expected that, I definitely don't think Vince [McMahon] expected that. I've heard stories that [Vince] said, 'nobody's going to know who this guy is, and you want him at No. 3?'"
He also revealed that he had fears that the WWE Universe would not know who he was. Styles jokingly told Triple H that he would make an entry at No. 2 in the Rumble and was given the No. 3 spot, which he said couldn't have been any better for him.
What's next?
Styles has an ongoing feud with Kevin Owens, who he beat on this past week's Smackdown and won back the United States Championship.
Author's take
Styles is an incredible asset for Smackdown and WWE, and we've possibly only seen a brief glimpse of what he's capable of.
