AJ Styles Says Vince McMahon Didn’t Know Who He Was When He Debuted in WWE

– Ahead of this weekend’s WWE Night of Champions event, WWE Superstar AJ Styles spoke to Mark Andrews on My Love Letter to Wrestling, and he discussed his signing with WWE in early 2016, making his debut at the Royal Rumble in the Rumble match. According to Styles, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had no idea who he was when he made his debut. Styles stated the following (via WrestlingInc.com):

“I’m not sure how I snuck in there [to WWE], I think maybe the success of the Bullet Club helped for sure. Maybe some of the writers asked, ‘What do you think about AJ Styles?’ But I can tell you this, Vince McMahon had no idea who I was. 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 thought it was a fluke that I got the pop that I did in Orlando.”

At WWE Night of Champions, Styles will be competing against Seth Rollins. The winner will be the new World Heavyweight Champion. The event is slated for Saturday, May 27 at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.