The INSANE Gimmick AJ Styles Thought Vince McMahon Would Give Him In WWE

AJ Styles has revealed fears that Vince McMahon was going to saddle him with overalls, a banjo, and a country-themed entrance song upon arriving in WWE, doing so on Ryan Satin's Out of Character podcast.

The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion spoke on debuting in WWE, and the prospect of coming into the company via NXT rather than jumping straight onto the main roster (h/t Fightful for the transcriptions):-

"It was one of those things that I was like, ‘Hey, listen if they’re looking for an AJ Styles, I would be happy to give it a shot’’ and I was willing to go down to NXT for a couple of months to get my feet wet and then get to a main brand like a Raw or SmackDown."

Styles ended up debuting as a surprise participant in the 2016 Royal Rumble before hopping into an immediate feud with Chris Jericho, including a WrestleMania bout. Aesthetically, little had changed from his time in NJPW and TNA, with his attire, look, and crucially, his ring name largely unchanged.

This almost wasn't the case, AJ revealed:-

“I had no idea what was going to happen. There was talk of, ‘Hey, I don’t know if we can keep your name.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s fine, I’ll be whoever you want me to be but I have this huge tattoo on my side that says AJ, but you can call me whatever you want.’"

Then came the revelation of Styles' worries that he might debut as something of a new era Hillbilly Jim:-

"Listen, I was worried about this southern accent that I can’t shake, that Vince was going to make me wear overalls and come out to a little country song or something with a banjo. I was more worried about that."

Those fears never manifested, though it isn't unreasonable of Styles to expect something like this from McMahon, given the WWE chairman and CEO's track record. Fortunately, Vince has let AJ Styles be AJ Styles instead of countrifying him.