That loud, collective "Nooooooooooooooo" you heard last night was the entire WWE universe reacting to the possible injury of AJ Styles. The Phenomenal One was at MSG last night for a live show to team up with Shinsuke Nakamura against current best friends Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
Before the match got started, Zayn and Owens attacked Nakamura and Styles in the ring and used a couple chairs to really go at Styles' leg. It has been reported that the referee threw up the "X" and AJ was then taken out of the ring and helped, limping, backstage.
This tweet from a fan in attendance sums up what everyone was thinking at that moment:
This year's WrestleMania has some big matches planned: Lesnar v. Reigns and Charlotte v. Asuka to name a couple. But from many WWE fans, there is no match that we are more excited to see and have been begging for longer than Styles v. Nakamura. So, is the injury real?
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Well, the good news is that after the match ended (it became Nakamura v. Owens and Zayn interfered at the end) Styles did return from backstage with a chair to save Nakamura from the beating he was taking from Owens and Zayn. He was limping, but according to GiveMeSport, "The Styles injury angle appears to have been a work to get the fans invested. The Phenomenal One is said to be fighting fit and ready to face Nakamura in three weeks time."
This would seem to make sense - as one can't imagine the WWE sending Styles back out into the ring if there was any kind of legit injury concern this close to the WrestleMania dream match. However, for the ref to use the "X" as a work seems wrong. The "X" is meant to signify when a wrestler has been legit injured and to use it for a fake injury does not seem like a good idea and sets a possibly dangerous precedent.
Obviously, with WrestleMania right around the corner, all eyes will be on Styles to see if he is actually suffering from some kind of injury or if it really was all just a work for the live show.