The Young Bucks Reveal AEW's Original Plans for AJ Styles' Debut

AEW's Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson were recently guests on the Talkin' Shop Podcast with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and during the Patreon portion of the show to pair revealed some major plans that were initially in place for AEW Dynamite's premiere episode back in October 2019. Gallows and Anderson had previously confirmed they were originally supposed to make their AEW debuts that night (they wound up re-signing with WWE instead, only to be released back in April), but Matt Jackson revealed a third former Bullet Club member was supposed to be with them. He didn't say his name outright, but context clues point towards it being AJ Styles.

There was going to be another person who I would not name. Let us just say he's another Bullet Club member you may not want to talk about," Matt said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). "... We were originally going to debut AEW Dynamite at Madison Square Garden. At the end of our match, the three of you [Anderson, Gallows, and Styles] were supposed to jump the guardrail, and we were going to have a Bullet Club reunion. Obviously, things didn't work out like that."

Obviously, that didn't happen. Styles wound up re-signing with WWE last year, and credited the Bucks for forcing WWE to increase their offer in order to top him from leaving.

"The first guy in this conversation [Styles] buzzed us and said, 'I just got too good of an offer [from WWE] and I would have never got that money without you guys' offer. So I want to thank you,'" Matt recalled.

Could Styles eventually wind up in AEW when his last WWE contract expires? It's possible, but the former WWE Champion has made it clear he has a sincere desire to hang up his boots and retire.

"I want to retire, I really do" Styles said in a recent Twitch stream while talking about his desire to be home to see his son play varsity football. "The Phenomenal One" is currently on the Friday Night SmackDown roster and is locked in a feud with Jeff Hardy and Sami Zayn over the Intercontinental Championship.

The AEW Dynamite premiere wound up taking place in Washington D.C. and ended with Jake Hager making his debut and Chris Jericho forming The Inner Circle faction