AJ Styles is the current WWE Champion and it’s hard to imagine SmackDown Live without him at this point. His southern-infused theme song rallies crowds all over the world and everyone is thrilled to see the Face That Built SmackDown Live but it turns out things were almost much different for AJ Styles in WWE.
When AJ Styles burst into the WWE Universe when he emerged as the #3 entry in the 2016 Royal Rumble it looks like WWE didn’t think he would amount to everything he has.
Dave Meltzer recently discussed WWE’s initial intentions when bringing in AJ Styles to WWE during Wrestling Observer Radio. Apparently, they either didn’t know who they had just signed or were still stuck in the classic big man syndrome that has plagued WWE for years (via Ringside News).
“The only reason AJ Styles got the push that he did was because the crowd reacted to him. He was not geared towards doing anything this big. That was never the plan when they got him. It wasn’t like to bury him but the idea of him being a world champion that was certainly not in the plans. But the crowd went for him really big.”
It’s a great thing that WWE heard the crowd’s reaction to seeing the Phenomenal One in WWE and changed up their plans. But his Road To WrestleMania where he was featured against Chris Jericho in a spotlight match nowhere near the top of the card could be a better clue about how WWE initially planned on using Styles.
After all, it’s no shame to be a part of the WWE roster and not being a fixture in the main event scene. But when you’re talking about a guy with the talent like AJ Styles it really would have been a shame to keep him pigeonholed anywhere but the top of the card.
