One of the most trusted shoulders of WWE programming has been AJ Styles over the past several years. Upon coming to the WWE in 2016, he got a solid push that led to one of the longest runs with the WWE Championship in the history of Smackdown. Moving on, he was arguably underutilized by WWE’s creative team in recent times.
A hiatus started for AJ Styles in mid-September which was supposed to last for a limited occasion. WWE fans are thereby eagerly waiting to see his return to television which was reportedly happening in the Tribute to the Troops edition of the show, last week. But now, they will have to wait a bit longer, as he wasn’t there on board.
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AJ Styles’ return got postponed due to creative reasons
According to a report from PWInsider, WWE had initially plans to bring AJ Styles back several weeks ago and even locally advertised his return for the TTTT edition. But then his return was delayed due to creative decisions,
“WWE had planned at one point to bring Styles back several weeks ago but delayed that return. We are told by a source it’s a creative decision as to when he will return and that it could be any week now, but for those who have asked about him returning tonight, we have been told that it will not be this week.”
In a follow-up report from PWInsider’s Mike Johnson, AJ Styles’ return to WWE programming is imminent. It could be happening any week now, but things will ultimately be decided by the creative team at WWE, who are figuring out the plans for him. Johnson didn’t reveal any reason as to why the earlier slated return was scrapped, three weeks ago.
AJ Styles’ last match took place on the September 15 episode of SmackDown, where he faced Finn Balor and got defeated. Following this match, he was taken off TV after a physical segment with The Bloodline where Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa injured him in a kayfabe manner.
It was thereby predicted that AJ Styles would start feuding with The Bloodline leader Roman Reigns over the undisputed championship. But things never moved that way. Rather, LA Knight got the chance to square off against The Tribal Chief at Crown Jewel.
