As previously noted, there have been rumors going around about AJ Styles making a surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble. We thought that those plans could have changed since the news got out online but, at the RPW event on Saturday, AJ Styles gave a very strong tease to the fans.
Styles said, “I’m not sure what the future holds for me. I tell you what…if I’m not recovering from some weird armbar submission and there’s a spot in the Royal Rumble…I’ll tell you what, I don’t deserve a thing. I don’t deserve you but I’ll tell ya… you put me in that Royal Rumble and I’m gonna kick some ass for you guys. In all honesty, I don’t have a job there so we’ll see what happens.”
Styles wrestled Rey Mysterio for the first time at the 5 Star Wrestling show in Sheffield, England on Friday night. He defeated Mysterio with the Styles clash after pulling the referee in front of him to stop Mysterio from doing a dive on him. Styles’ last independent booking is Sunday night for 5 Star Wrestling in the United Kingdom. He did have some ROH shows booked for late January and February but I don’t believe he will be on those shows so the timing for a Royal Rumble appearance seems to be perfect. It’s perfect for WWE since they are in dire need of star power for the show.
Check out the clip below from Saturday’s show where he makes the Royal Rumble reference. He mentions the Royal Rumble at the 2:00 mark.
AJ Styles headed to the Royal Rumble?
So…. this happened today. #AJStyles #WWE #RoyalRumble
Posted by Wrestling News on Saturday, January 16, 2016
AJ noted that he doesn’t have a job there and that is technically true since the last we heard was that he hasn’t signed his WWE contract but that is just a formality. At the Wrestle Kingdom 10 event in Tokyo, Japan, he informed officials that he would be headed to WWE.