Fans praying for WWE star, 47, after injury 8 minutes into comeback match --[Reported by Umva mag]

WWE fans are concerned after AJ Styles left the arena on crutches after wrestling on SmackDown for the first time in almost four months.

The Phenomenal One’s last televised bout for WWE came in mid-June when he lost an I Quit match to WWE Champion Cody Rhodes at Clash At The Castle in Glasgow.

While Styles, 47, has featured on the company’s live events over the past few months and even wrestled for NOAH in Japan over the summer, it’s been a long time since fans saw him on SmackDown.

That changed on Friday night when he ended up facing rising star Carmelo Hayes in his return match.

The two highfliers delivered some exciting action for fans, but in the eighth minute of the bout, Styles looked to land awkwardly from a springboard and went down clutching his lower leg.

After checking on him, the referee threw up the ‘X’ sign with his arms – which typically signals a legitimate injury – and called off the match, awarding the victory to Melo.

Styles limped from the ring on his own, but WWE later aired footage of him leaving the arena on crutches, which has fans worried about the legitimacy and severity of his injury.

‘Praying that Aj Styles is just selling this,’ wrote X user @KrazyCoffeeBean, with other fans hoping that the former world champion was simply doing a good job at acting hurt as part of the storyline.

‘THE REF HAS PUT UP THE X SIGN, AJ STYLES LEG GAVE OUT. PLEASE BE A WORK ???? #SmackDown,’ said @TribalMegastar, while @DSinger89 added: ‘Damn I hope that’s an injury angle for AJ Styles and not a real thing. Very strange situation.’

‘If it’s not a work then I’m just praying that AJ is ok, obviously. They did a great job operating in that gray area. I’m seeing a lot of people who are unsure if it’s a work or not,’ tweeted @ItsLSDub.

‘I’m praying it’s a work dawg and that AJ is the greatest seller of all time ???? We just got AJ back ????’ said @MichaelSFNR1, while other fans are worried about his in-ring future if it is indeed legitimate.

Fan @mckenzieas93V2 wrote: ‘If AJ Styles is injured for a long period of time then he may very well have to think about if it’s time to end his in ring career.’

Styles has repeatedly insisted his current WWE contract is his final one, and he is looking ahead to retirement in the not-too-distant future after over two decades in the business.

‘I don’t want to do it anymore. And it’s not because – of course I want to wrestle,’ he exclusively told Metro.co.uk in Philadelphia over WrestleMania weekend earlier this year.

He added: ‘But my body, it’s like, “Please stop. Please stop.” I think this would be a good place to end my career, in the WWE.’

WWE Bad Blood airs tonight (October 5) at 11pm. Tune in via the WWE Network.

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