AJ Styles pulled a page out of Mark Henry’s book on Friday’s WWE SmackDown, attacking Cody Rhodes after faking as if he was going to retire.
During the most recent episode of Busted Open Radio (via Fightful), Henry praised how Styles handled the moment, which was obviously reminiscent of Henry’s infamous fake retirement that took place 10 years ago, and joked the pair had to show up at events in their jackets together.
“Mr. AJ Styles donned a blue jacket, and shook up the world,” said Henry. “You talk about a historical moment. He trended. Not only did AJ Styles trend, but yours truly. I’m back. Of course, I never left. The fans know me. They understand what it is. I made retirements cool. Everyone that has ever retired since, they say, ‘He’s going to do a Mark Henry.’ When you coin a phrase, it’s pretty damn cool. Now, AJ Styles, as unbelievable of a job as he did, I’m going to have to get out the pink jacket, he’ll have to get the powder blue jacket, and we’ll have to do signings together. We have to get the in-person moment.”
Henry also acknowledged that his own fake retirement was the inspiration behind the Styles and Rhodes promo. The legendary wrestler thought they did everything perfectly, though, calling the entire moment “incredible.”
“I know both of those guys. They thought about it and said, ‘Let’s do it like Mark did it.’ They did the same exact posturing. Even to the point, after the clothesline and beatdown, he did the same posturing of standing over him just like I did. When they went outside to the floor, all bets were off, they did a great job. The execution of it, the camera angles that they took was incredible.”
