AJ Styles is the leader of WWE wrestling stable The Club, which they’re now calling “The O.C.” (“We are the Official, we are the Original, we are the Only Club that matters. We are now and forever The O.C.”), so he’s the one to ask if Bullet Club founder Finn Balor will be brought in when he returns to TV. So we did.
“I mean, we’ll have to see where he stands. We’re not exactly liked right now,” Styles told TheWrap. “Does he want to be not liked? I don’t know. I don’t know where it’s going to stand. He will always have an invitation, but who knows if it’s going to happen.”
Right, such a realignment would mean an automatic heel turn– the phrasing for when a “good guy” in wrestling becomes a “bad guy” — for the beloved Balor, who currently calls his inclusive WWE Universe subsection “Balor Club.”
A quick history lesson for the initiated: In 2014, Styles replaced Balor, who was then known as Prince Devitt (which is at least his real last name), as Bullet Club leader when Balor left New Japan Pro-Wrestling for WWE. Styles came to WWE a few years later.
Balor is currently nursing an injury that he (storyline) suffered following a surprise Bray Wyatt beatdown. But should Balor came back on the wrong side of morality, his Coup de Grâce finishing maneuver would be quite a coup for The O.C. As for Styles, the living (and working) legend has a few finishing moves, but he wants more — and not just for himself.
Ranking his Styles Clash and Phenomenal Forearm moves as “1 and 1a” (rather than an actual hierarchy), the former amateur wrestler didn’t want us to sleep on his submission moves.
“Listen, I’ve beaten with the Calf Crusher as well, so if you want to throw that in there,” Styles said. “I like having more moves to finish people with because it’s just more ideas to present. There’s a chance you could be beat by [any] one of these.”
“I wish there was more of this going around,” he added. “I wish that a simple clothesline could be the finish of the match, that way you don’t know when the finish is coming at all. But I’m very grateful to have more than one and more than two.”
WWE’s big “Raw Reunion” show, which will feature appearances by dozens of former WWE Superstars, starts tonight at 8/7c on USA Network.