Talks Took Place For Former WWE Champion To Appear At NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

This major WWE star was at one point being discussed for a role at Wrestle Kingdom 17.

by Andrew Pollard
AJ Styles NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17
WWE/NJPW

With Karl Anderson having lost the NEVER Openweight Championship at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 earlier this month, it's now been revealed that there were loose negotiations to have Anderson's OC cohort AJ Styles accompany Machine Gun for that event.

Per Fightful's Wrestling Perspective Podcast, Rocky Romero confirmed that talks did indeed take place to have Styles return to the Tokyo Dome for New Japan Pro-Wrestling's biggest show of the show. This comes on the heels of rumours back in December that the Phenomenal One could be a part of Wrestle Kingdom 17 in some capacity.

As New Japan's Romero detailed, there were discussions about bringing Styles in for WK17, and P1 himself thought it would be a good idea. Seemingly that idea became irrelevant before anything concrete could be put in place, with an AJ appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 17 completely off the table once the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion unfortunately broke his ankle during a WWE live event towards the end of 2022.

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Rocky was keen to stress that there was never anything officially confirmed for AJ Styles to appear at Wrestle Kingdom 17, but the notion was for sure one idea that was at one point being talked about.

As for Styles, this injury setback means he'll definitely miss this year's Royal Rumble, with the problem also throwing up major questions about the two-time WWE Champion's status for WrestleMania 39 in April.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.