Sources within World Wrestling Entertainment confirmed today that AJ Styles will make his much-anticipated WWE debut at Sunday’s Royal Rumble, during which he will suffer a fluke injury that will put him out of action for six to eight months.

After weeks of speculation, it now seems certain that Styles will join the active WWE roster Sunday, then join the larger inactive roster at a Tampa physiotherapy clinic for the foreseeable future.

Styles is expected to be the 30th entrant in Sunday’s Royal Rumble match, at which point he will get dropped awkwardly on his shoulder by Ryback, sidelining him well past WrestleMania.

Though Styles has built an impressive reputation in Ring of Honor, Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling and in Japan, getting injured in WWE has long been an unrequited dream.

“Until a wrestler has been on the WWE injured list, he hasn’t truly made it in this business,” said WWE executive Hunter Hearst Helsmley, himself a renowned veteran of multiple torn quadriceps.

Another recent WWE signee, Shinsuke Nakamura, pre-emptively injured his knee this morning.