10 More Wrestling Hoaxes That Fooled The Internet
3. A Phenomenal Showdown
A year removed from making his jaw-dropping, though slightly botched, Royal Rumble and WWE debut all in the same night, The Phenomenal AJ Styles had his eyes set on another game-changing moment.
With the uploading/sharing of just one captivating image of himself and WWE legend Shawn Michaels squaring up, the then-WWE Champion almost single-handedly set the wrestling world on fire and convinced everyone something epic was incoming. Sure, HBK hadn't been seen throwing down in a ring since retiring against The Undertaker a few years back, but if ever there was a match capable of luring him out of retirement for one night only, surely it was this.
Interesting photo..... is it not? pic.twitter.com/MKgF4XoAF1
— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) October 20, 2016
The fact the 2017 Royal Rumble was also set to go down in HBK's home state of San Antonio, Texas also made this one seem like too much of a marketable opportunity to miss coming into the 30th iteration of the show.
But, despite whipping the fans up into a mouth-watering frenzy, Styles would ultimately duke it out with John Cena instead. Adding further insult to injury, Styles would later admit:
"I asked Shawn (about a match) and he said ‘No.’ Well that’s on Shawn, guys. I can’t do anything about that. I would love the opportunity to do that match, But I get where he’s coming from too."
And instead of this Phenomenal throwdown, we got that Crown Jewel anything-but-greatest-hits revival.
HBK sucks.