AJ Styles has been one of the top stars in WWE since his debut, but he originally rejected a deal with the company.
AJ Styles was signed to WCW in the final days of the promotion, appearing on a handful of episodes of their shows.
He was in a tag team with Air Paris, although they did not come to much success as a team.
Once WCW closed, AJ Styles was offered a deal with the WWE by Johnny Ace, although he shockingly turned this down, later signing with TNA and becoming the ace of the company.
While it may seem odd that a young wrestler would turn down the chance to wrestle for the WWE, AJ Styles had a good reason for rejecting the deal
In an interview with BT Sport, the former WWE Champion revealed that he would have had to leave his home in Georgia, and move to Cincinnati with the WWE.
At the time, his wife was training to become a schoolteacher, and he did not want to cost her the dream she’d been chasing, by chasing his own.
Speaking with BT Sport, AJ Styles said;
“I was watching it from home [The final WCW Nitro] like some of the other guys and then kind of saw what was going to happen. What happened? Well, they then let me go to a camp that they had in Cincinnati, where it was a week-long camp. I did okay there, and they offered me a developmental contract to move up to Cincinnati.
I talked about it with my wife, who was in college. I said, ‘It’s not right for me to move and chase this dream when you had your dream long before I did – finishing college and becoming a school teacher. I’m not going to leave my wife and have her move in with her parents. That’s not how it works, right?’ So, I called Johnny Ace back and said, ‘Listen, I appreciate the offer, but I can’t do it right now.’ That was it.”
Clearly, it all worked out for the best, as after rejecting WWE the first time, AJ Styles signed for the company in 2016, and is now a two-time WWE Champion.
If you use any quotes from this article, please HT to Atletifo for the transcription.