AJ Styles Says Vince McMahon Didn't Know Who He Was When He Made Royal Rumble Debut

AJ Styles made his shocking WWE debut as the third entrant in the 2016 Royal Rumble match. While many assumed he had already signed a WWE contract at the point, that may not have been the case. During a recent interview with Mark Andrews on "My Love Letter to Wrestling," Styles revealed he wasn't initially booked for "WWE Raw" the night after the Rumble.

"I'm not sure how I snuck in there [to WWE], I think maybe the success of the Bullet Club helped for sure," Styles said. "Maybe some of the writers asked, 'What do you think about AJ Styles?' But I can tell you this, Vince McMahon had no idea who I was. There's no way because he had no plans for me after the Royal Rumble. I wasn't supposed to be at 'Raw' the next day. Yeah, so he thought it was a fluke that I got the pop that I did in Orlando."

Styles recalled McMahon booking him in a "basic" match against Chris Jericho to test the waters of him as a babyface. Afterward, McMahon pulled the former TNA World Champion aside and told him that he has a hundred people who can do what he does and that he needs the pitbull out of him. Then he gained McMahon's trust and the rest was history.

In his debut year in WWE, Styles was able to wrestle Jericho at WrestleMania, defeat John Cena at SummerSlam, and then went on to capture his first WWE Championship. Since then, he's added a second world title reign, three United States Championship reigns, and one run each with the Intercontinental and "Raw" Tag Team Championship.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "My Love Letter to Wrestling" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.