AJ Styles claims WWE CEO Vince McMahon was “unimpressed” seeing his WWE debut

AJ Styles is widely considered as one of the best pro-wrestlers in the current WWE roster. He has been a fan favourite since Day 1 and has been hailed as the “best wrestler” by WWE legends like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H and Booker T. However, according to AJ Styles himself, Vince McMahon was least impressed with him in the past. While talking to fans on Twitch, AJ Styles said that the WWE CEO did not approve of his WWE debut – which came during the Men’s Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble 2016 PPV.

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Despite receiving an incredible reaction from the fans, AJ Styles had to prove his worth to the WWE CEO. AJ Styles was phenomenal with his promo deliveries and his feuds with Roman Reigns, John Cena and others were loved by many. According to various reports, Vince McMahon started liking AJ Styles when The Phenomenal One became the WWE champion and was being hailed as the face of WWE SmackDown.

“The reaction that I got at the Royal Rumble 2016 was awesome, it was amazing, but Vince didn’t really believe that – [he thought] that it was a fluke, basically.” said AJ, “That’s what he thought it was. I wasn’t even going to be on RAW the next day, but they convinced him otherwise.”

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What’s next for AJ Styles?

AJ Styles is currently the Intercontinental Champion, which he won a couple of weeks ago by defeating Daniel Bryan in the finals of Intercontinental Championship tournament. Since then, the champ has defended his title against superstars like Drew Gulak, Matt Riddle and Gran Metalik. Recently, PWInsider's Mike Johnson claimed that AJ Styles will begin a feud with Jeff Hardy in the upcoming episode of WWE SmackDown and the two will go on to face each other at WWE SummerSlam 2020, which is scheduled to take place on August 23 (August 24 for Indian viewers).

"Expected to be added to Summerslam's lineup is Jeff Hardy challenging WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles. That was the direction planned for the Smackdown episode that was slated to be taped last week but was cancelled. That episode is being taped today at the WWE Performance Center."

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