AJ Styles Believes He Had To Earn Respect From WWE's Roman Reigns

AJ Styles has looked back on his early years in WWE and has a hunch that Roman Reigns didn't like him at first.

Reigns, when Styles came to the company in 2016, was a key player behind the scenes, becoming the locker room leader and the promotion's biggest name. Styles spoke about his WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble on "The AJ Styles Show" podcast, and believes that Reigns wasn't entirely convinced about him at the start.

"I think there was some [feeling with Roman] like, 'Ah, freaking this guy.' I don't think Roman liked me in the beginning. I don't think he really liked me. He didn't know who I was or what I was about or know anything about me. He was like, 'This guy's coming into my house thinking he knows how to do this.' I don't know that for sure," said Styles.  

"The Phenomenal One" said that Reigns eventually had confidence in him once they got in the ring and developed a strong working relationship.

"But I think once we wrestled and that storyline that we had was unbelievable, I think after that he was like, 'All right, I like this guy.' You know, it wasn't about me, it was about the match. I think once people realize that with anybody, now you're able to trust him. I think he got to that point and was like, we can trust this guy. He's one of the boys," added Styles.

The retired star had a mini feud with Reigns in his debut match, which he said helped him settle into the moment after initially worrying that fans wouldn't know who he was. Styles and Reigns feuded in 2016 following the former's debut, and several years later, they had their final singles match against each other at Saturday Night's Main Event in 2022.