AJ Styles versus Shawn Michaels at the Alamodome?

Could we see ‘The Phenomenal One’ against ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ at next year’s Royal Rumble? Current WWE World Champion AJ Styles certainly gave the rumor even more legs in a recent interview conducted by Justin Barrasso of SI.com that hit the presses earlier today.

“I would love the opportunity to wrestle him. I’d love to learn from him, but who’s to say that’s going to happen. Right now, it’s all speculation and rumors that I’m finding out like everyone else is, but man, what a match that would be,” Styles told SI.

Next year’s Rumble will be the 30th edition of the wildly popular WWE pay-per-view event and it will be the second to take place inside of San Antonio’s Alamodome. The first visit took place in 1997 and saw local heroes ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and Michaels have career nights, respectively. Austin won the Rumble as the 5th entrant and Michaels defeated Sycho Sid Vicious to become the new WWF Champion. This visit will mark the 20th anniversary of that event.

Since making his WWE debut earlier this year as the 3rd entrant in the Royal Rumble in Orlando, Styles has quickly become one of the top stars in WWE. He beat John Cena twice, which is a rarity in WWE over the past decade, before defeating Dean Ambrose to become the WWE World Champion. Styles came to WWE with a ton of hype behind him on the strength of his two-year stint in Japan after he “bet on himself” by leaving TNA following a lengthy run that seemed to be going nowhere towards the end. Those two years Styles spent wrestling with NJPW not only revitalized his career – it helped solidify him as the top pro wrestler in the world today. And his transition into WWE has been seamless.

The last time we saw Shawn Michaels wrestle was back in 2010 at WrestleMania 26. Michaels lost to The Undertaker in a match that put his pro wrestling career on the line against The Undertaker’s famed streak. Michaels has kept up his end of the bargain as we have not seen him compete since. This match was a sequel to their magical WrestleMania 25 match that is still widely considered as one of, if not thee best pro wrestling match of all-time.

While a return to the ring for Shawn Michaels at 51 didn’t seem likely a couple of weeks ago, it certainly isn’t out of the question considering the recent return of Goldberg (49) and Sting making his WWE debut in his mid 50’s not too long ago.

All we know is that if this match is booked, expect the combination of the 65,000 plus fans in attendance and HBK’s pyro to blow that dome right off into the San Antonio night.

image credit – @Wrestling__Party