Throughout this entire year, rumor after rumor has been coming around about AJ Styles finally landing in WWE and having a run. A number of wrestling legends have spoken out about him being there and getting the run he should have in his career, but it still hasn’t happened. In the last week, rumors have started up again about Styles being in talks with WWE and possibly having a run in NXT, and now there’s more known about all that.
All the talk began last month and it was nothing more than a bunch of rumors, but they really picked up speed. Apparently, AJ Styles had been in talks with WWE about a run in NXT or something maybe on the main roster.
Wrestling Inc. reached out to a source with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) to find out more about all this since that’s where Styles is currently wrestling. Yes, he’s traveling the world and doing indy shows and even some Ring of Honor work, but NJPW is where his biggest work is being done.
It appears as if the rumors of Styles being in talks with WWE have made the rounds over in Japan as well. NJPW talents close to Styles don’t know exactly what the whole truth is, but they are under the impression that everything is nothing more than speculation and they don’t believe he even wants to go to WWE.
AJ Styles was a guest on The Taz Show: Bodyslams & Beyond in October, and he spoke on a number of things included his wrestling future. He has never actually publicly ruled out going to WWE or NXT, but he didn’t say that ending up there is pivotal either.
Styles has said that he’s happy where he is in NJPW and he’s actually doing very well over there. He’s a main player on the roster and has even won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship again since being there. No matter what, the 38-year-old is going to do what he needs to do for his family and his life.
“At this point in my career, I’m going to go do what’s best for my family and I want to do what’s best to provide for them. So, the business that we’re in, the business could be better somewhere else, then that’s where I’m going to go. That’s what I’m going to do. So, like I said, it’s a business plan. Wherever the plan takes me, that’s where I’ll go.”
It’s still possible that he could end up in WWE or NXT one day, and others feel the same way. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin believes that Styles is one of the greatest wrestlers on the planet right now and that he “deserves a run in WWE.” Austin just doesn’t “know why WWE doesn’t hire AJ Styles right now.”
When Styles was asked about who he would most like to face that he hasn’t yet, he said it would be Rey Mysterio . It’s not overly possible right now since Styles is in NJPW which is affiliated with CMLL while Mysterio is with AAA who is their rival promotion.
“I’d like to wrestle Rey, Rey Mysterio, before he retires. I think we could have a pretty cool match and it would be a pretty big match, the two of us, so I’d probably get that done.” Styles continued, “I would imagine you would have to come off the hip with some money for Rey, but it would be fun! It depends where we do it. The problem is he works for AAA and I work for New Japan and New Japan works for CMLL, or works with CMLL, so that’s the big dilemma. It would have to be an independent [show] for us to meet.”
Recently, Rey Mysterio said “never say never” on a return to WWE and that anything is possible. He sure wasn’t kidding considering Alberto Del Rio just made his return to the promotion after being gone for over a year.
Will AJ Styles ever get a true run in WWE? If he does sign with the company, will he start in NXT like Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens did? For now, it seems as if that kind of talk is far away and nothing but rumors, but anything is possible in the wrestling world.
[Image via TNA]