AJ Styles has wrestled some of the biggest names in the industry during his career, but one rivalry from his time in TNA Wrestling still stands out in his mind. While speaking on the Phenomenally Retro Podcast, Styles reflected on his memorable battles with Abyss and revealed that there was once internal discussion about giving the monster character a moment inside a WWE Royal Rumble.
During the conversation, Styles looked back at one of his favorite matches against Abyss from TNA’s Lockdown event, where every match on the card took place inside a steel cage. Because the stipulation applied to the entire show, Styles said he and Abyss had to think creatively about how to make their main event feel different from the rest of the card.
“One of my favorite matches is with him. The… oh, I don’t remember the cage match. What it was called? Was it Lockdown? Yes. So this was the first time every match was in a cage and we were the main event. They go, ‘Well, what the heck are we going to do? Every match was in a cage.’ So we started our first… I believe it was the first 10 minutes of our match, the match hadn’t even started yet. It was on the outside. We’re going fighting all around and then once we get in the ring, ding ding ding, the match starts. We did another 10 to 15 minutes. But it was one of my favorite matches because… I mean tacks, I got busted open, chains, top of the cage, like outside of the cage. It was… I would love to tell you it was me that thought of all that stuff, but I’m pretty sure it was both of us that came up with it. But it was a brilliant match based on what we had to work with.”
Styles made it clear that he still holds Abyss in very high regard as a performer, especially when it comes to big men who can do more than just dominate with size.
“But it’s like you said, he was probably one of the better big men definitely that I’ve ever wrestled. He is right up there in my top five of big men that could do it all and was willing to do it and could go and had great moves and a different character. Like he was so good, man.”
That respect is one reason Styles wishes Abyss could have had a brief moment on WWE television as the character fans knew from TNA. According to Styles, there was a point when the idea of bringing Abyss into the Royal Rumble was seriously discussed, but it never happened.
“There was a moment in time where we thought we were going to have him in the Royal Rumble and it didn’t go through and I hate that for him. I wish it hadn’t. It would have been just like, ‘Ah, okay, stamp on Abyss, the character finally made it to the WWE.’ I would have wanted that, but it never happened. I guess somebody didn’t agree with it, who knows.”
Although that appearance never materialized, Abyss remains one of the most memorable figures from TNA’s early years, and Styles clearly believes the character deserved at least one moment on WWE’s biggest stage.
Would you have liked to see Abyss enter the Royal Rumble for a surprise appearance in WWE, or do you think his legacy is already complete from his TNA career? Let us know what you think and drop your thoughts in the comments.
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