Former WWE Writer Says Vince McMahon Was Skeptical Of AJ Styles When He Joined WWE

It’s been almost three years since AJ Styles arrived at the 2016 WWE Royal Rumble, and Styles has since become one of WWE’s top stars.

The Phenomenal One has managed to win the WWE Championship twice, the United States Championship twice, and he’s had the opportunity to face some of the biggest names WWE has to offer.

There was once a time when many fans though WWE wouldn’t be interested in signing Styles, and during a recent interview with Fightful, former WWE writer Jimmy Jacobs said that Vince was initially skeptical of AJ when he joined the company.

“When AJ Styles came into WWE, Vince McMahon was skeptical of him for every reason you might think. He came in at Royal Rumble, got a great reaction when he came in and Vince was still skeptical and said ‘well that’s just one audience.’ Can he talk? What’s his character? Does anybody know who he is? All the reasons you would think.”

Jacobs went on to say that eventually McMahon pushed AJ Styles to the main event, and when the writers all pitched ideas for Styles, Vince made the decision to have him feud with Roman Reigns.

“But it was Vince McMahon’s idea to have AJ work with Roman Reigns a few months later. We had all pitched our ideas and figured you’d want to give him a strong heel. The strong heels we had at that point were Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, and Vince was like ‘we’re going with AJ Styles.’ You have to give the devil his due in those moments.”

AJ Styles dropped the WWE Championship to Daniel Bryan in November, but it looks like business is about the pick up for AJ.

This week’s episode of SmackDown Live ended with a confrontation between Vince McMahon and Styles which saw Vince slap Styles, only for AJ to respond by punching McMahon in the face.

At this point it’s not clear where the storyline is going, but it’s intriguing to say the least.