WWE United States Champion AJ Styles talked about WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels turning down a match with him while speaking with Cathy Kelly on WWE Now.
Styles would talk about how he would’ve loved to have shared the ring with Michaels but wasn’t sure why fans compare the two stars. He would like to think it’s because there are so many great matches that Michaels and himself have put on in their careers.
“I asked Shawn and he said ‘No.’ Well That’s on Shawn, guys. I can’t do anything about that. I would love to opportunity to do that match.”
Styles continued by noting that he understands why Michaels didn’t want to do the match because he was retired and didn’t want to work a match.
He pointed out that Michaels came out of retirement years later but understands why he did one match and then went back to retirement. Styles added that he wants to stay retired after calling it a career.
Styles teased a match in 2016 with Michaels at the Royal Rumble PPV the following year, which got everyone talking about a possible match between the two stars. However, it didn’t happen.
Styles later revealed that the match had been pitched for WrestleMania 33. This came up when WWE needed to find Styles an opponent, which led to the idea of having Styles wrestle Michaels at WrestleMania.
