AJ Styles: Vince McMahon 'Thought I Was a Fluke'

AJ Styles has enjoyed one of the most rapid launches in WWE history. Since his explosive debut at [...]

AJ Styles has enjoyed one of the most rapid launches in WWE history. Since his explosive debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble, The Phenomenal One has won the WWE Championship, multiple US Championships and beat John Cena twice.

However, if it were left to Vince McMahon's first impression, none of this would have happened.

Styles recently sat down with former WWE greats Edge and Christian on their podcast, E&C's Pod of Awesomeness. He told the story of his now storied debut and Vince's reluctance to put him in that spot:

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"I think the reaction was unbelievable, I did not expect that. It was one of those things in WWE history [which] will be forever there because that kind of reaction I didn't expect; I don't think anybody expected that, I definitely don't think Vince [McMahon] expected that. I've heard stories that [Vince] said, 'nobody's going to know who this guy is, and you want him at No. 3?'"

Even further, Vince still wasn't sold after Styles' huge Royal Rumble crowd reaction. After Styles' first match in WWE, Vince was still skeptical of Styles' ability:

"I think Vince thought it was a fluke. I had a match, a typical babyface match and Vince went 'I have tons of guys who can have that match. Where's this freakin' pitbull, this attack dog'. Oh, you want that guy, I can be that guy."

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That was all Styles needed to hear as he would start adding more ferocity in his matches. From there, he'd spend the rest of 2016 in WWE's main event, battling the biggest names in the business in John Cena and Roman Reigns.

That said, AJ Styles 2017 has been a little different. With the WWE Championship being hogged by Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal, Styles has found himself outside of WWE's main event for most of this year. The question begs, has Styles slipped?

No wrestler, especially in WWE, can spend his entire career in the main event. At some point, they need to cool off. For Styles, he has yet to reach that refrigeration period as WWE continues to put him in big situations. While his fans may be frustrated that Jinder Mahal is WWE Champion and not the Phenomenal One, he still owns an enviable position as US Champion.

Do not think for a second that Styles is under-appreciated in WWE. In fact, someone like Austin Aries would likely do awful, unspeakable things to switch places with the US Champion.

So while it may feel like Styles isn't under WWE's brightest lights, just know that he will soon return. The main event can truly only involved 2 people at a time (in RAW's case 4), so Styles and his fans will just have to wait their turn.

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