While speaking to Conrad Thompson on his Kurt Angle show podcast, Kurt Angle opened up about the signing of AJ Styles by WWE, and how higher-ups reacted to his debut.
Kurt Angle revealed that the company were surprised that almost everyone knew who AJ Styles was when he entered the men’s Royal Rumble match in 2016, with Angle even revealing that Vince McMahon now regrets not signing Styles sooner.
“The gauge was when he came out at the Royal Rumble, and the fans were so excited it was AJ Styles. You know, a lot of WWE fans feel like, or a lot of WWE personalities don’t think that WWE fans watch TNA Wrestling. I think they do because they knew exactly who AJ was, and I think Vince saw the reactions and went, ‘Wow, this guy is a star already.’ He hasn’t even been here, you know, this is his first day, and he’s a star. I think that he had to build a name for himself, and he did it right. It’s a shame that AJ ends up in the WWE when he is in his 40s.
“You know Vince, I was told, Vince, when he met up with AJ after AJ won the World Title, Vince went to him and said, ‘I wish I would have hired you ten years ago,’ and that is that. That tells you exactly how Vince feels about AJ. AJ is a star. He is, you know, when he came in the WWE, at that particular time, he was the #1 top best wrestler in the world. The best performer. Just from a wrestling standpoint, he was the top guy.”
This interestingly comes after it was revealed that 16-time World Champion John Cena was actually against WWE signing AJ Styles before the former IMPACT star joined the company, which you can read more about by clicking here.
What are your thoughts on the above story? Let us know in the comments on Twitter or Facebook.
Thanks to Ringside News for the transcription.
