During the May 31 episode of Friday Night SmackDown, AJ Styles made his way down to the ring to deliver what seemed to be a retirement speech. The Phenomenal One got fans invested, but it turned out to be a swerve as Styles attacked Cody Rhodes when The American Nightmare least expected it.
Fans have been comparing the moment to Mark Henry’s fake retirement speech in 2013. Recently Mark Henry spoke to Fightful about AJ’s fake retirement speech and he noted that AJ reached out to him after.
“I loved it. I feel a sense of pride when I’m being honored, and WrestleMania, Bianca Belair did a Mark Henry spot and walked up the steps and pressed her opponent into the ring. Whenever people do stuff like that, Braun Strowman did it several times, I just feel a sense of accomplishment.”
“You feel like a proud papa, and I got a text message from AJ Styles saying, ‘Man, I hope I made you proud.’ It made my eyes well up. So having an effect on people, it’s sometimes greater than you doing it yourself. I don’t know if I explained that properly. I felt in my heart enough to make me tear up, so that was pretty damn special.“
What was your reaction to AJ Styles’ fake retirement speech on SmackDown? Sound off in the comments below.
