AJ Styles joined the WWE roster in 2016, and he signed a new multi-year contract with the company last year.
It seems that AEW had interest in signing Styles, as AEW Executive Vice President Matt Jackson talked about some plans that were discussed for a possible AJ Styles debut on Dynamite.
At one point Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were in talks with AEW before they ultimately signed new WWE contracts, and Jackson opened up about some scrapped ideas for the first episode of Dynamite on the Talk’n Shop podcast.
“When were pitching ideas to have you guys [Anderson and Gallows] come in, it was not going to be just the two of you [debuting on AEW]. There was going to be another person who I would not name. Let us just say he’s another Bullet Club member you may not want to talk about. We were originally going to debut AEW Dynamite at Madison Square Garden. At the end of our match, the three of you [Anderson, Gallows, and Styles] were supposed to jump the guardrail, and we were going to have a Bullet Club reunion. Obviously, things didn’t work out like that.”
Matt Jackson went on to say that after WWE found out about AEW’s interest in Styles the company made The Phenomenal One a very lucrative offer, and Styles thanked The Young Bucks.
“The first guy in this conversation [AJ Styles] buzzed us and said, ‘I just got too good of an offer [from WWE] and I would have never got that money without you guys’ offer. So, I want to thank you.”
It seems unlikely that AJ Styles will end up in AEW at this point, as he recently stated that he’s looking to retire after his current WWE contract expires.
H/T Wrestling Inc.
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