WWE Champion AJ Styles did an interview with ESPN last month to promote SummerSlam. Styles revealed that upon signing with WWE, he was very nearly forced to change his name:
“When Triple H and I were talking, he said, ‘I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep your name.’ I said, ‘That’s fine, I’ll be any name you want me to be called, except I do have this huge AJ tattoo on my side so that might be a problem,'” Styles said.
“I think it worked out for the best because we weren’t taken and being changed into something else. We were the same characters that they saw from different companies and that they were familiar with and people were already invested in. I think that was a good move by WWE.”
