Fans who attended the NWA Wildside Reunion show last night at The Landmark Arena in Cornelia, Georgia got a big surprise as the WWE United States champion AJ Styles showed up at the event with his title.

The champ made a surprise appearance at the promotion that he started with back in 1999. It’s at NWA Wildside that he renamed himself AJ Styles after using his real name. Styles wrestled for NWA Wildside every now and then even after he went to TNA in its early years and he is a former NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champion.

Styles was not promoted for the show at all. Promotional material for the Reunion show said that over 50 returning stars from the Wildside years would be appearing. The company closed its doors in 2005 after running hundreds of shows out of a small former school gym in Cornelia and other locations throughout the state of Georgia. The company is owned by Bill Behrens.

So I went to an indie and AJ Styles showed up pic.twitter.com/C373f5fjjv

— BostonNooga (@BostonNooga) September 10, 2017