WWE superstar AJ Styles recently spoke with Bleacher Report to discuss a variety of topics, including his appearance in the 2016 Royal Rumble, coming up through TNA, his Mania matchups with Nakamura and Undertaker, and more. Highlights are below.
Says he found out at the last minute he’d be in the 2016 Royal Rumble:
I knew that I was WWE-bound when I had that last match in Japan. I knew I was on my way. Did I know that I was in the Rumble? Nope. It seemed like until the very last minute that I was even going to be in the Royal Rumble. I was told zero things. Nobody kept me in the loop, so I was waiting around thinking, ‘I hope I can get into the Royal Rumble. That’d be cool, but I’d understand if I’m not.’
Says he didn’t tell anybody about the Rumble because he didn’t know:
I didn’t really tell anybody because it was one of things where I didn’t really know. Was I actually going to be in the Rumble, or was I going to be doing something in the Rumble? I didn’t know, so yeah, I didn’t tell a soul, as crazy as that sounds.
On his success and being humbled by his WWE experiences:
Talent, timing, circumstances, being able to adapt and learn. The thing is, when I got to WWE, I still had a lot to learn with the way things are done there because it is done differently. Trust me when I say this. You have to be told one time. That’s it. And you have to get it right. You don’t want to make the big man mad, so you want to be able to listen, understand and get it right the first time. I was able to do that. Don’t get me wrong, there are things I still screw up like everyone else. I’m not perfect, but that’s what it was about. And humbling yourself, too, by the way. There have been some humbling experiences I went through in WWE that I appreciate to this day.
How he almost didn’t get to keep his name:
I remember Triple H and I talking, and he said, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to be able to keep your name. I said, ‘That’s fine. I have no problem. Just so you know, I have this huge tattoo on my side that says AJ. It’s not my name—it’s my kids’ initials and birthdays, but just throwing that out there.’ Luckily, I was able to keep the whole name AJ Styles, and it worked out for the best.
Not having time for NXT:
I would have, I think, gone to NXT for a couple of months to get familiar with what’s going on and how it’s done there, but I felt like as far as my career is concerned, I didn’t really have the time to spend in NXT,” he said. “I knew it had to be on the main roster so that, somehow, some way, I could make myself a bigger star. In the end, this is a job, and I’d like to make more money—as much as I can before I retire.
Learning a lot in TNA about WWE:
I was able to learn from a lot of different people. You talk about guys that used to be in WWE: Booker T and Kurt Angle, who I had fantastic matches with. I wrestled Kevin Nash, a ton of different guys who were in WWE at one time, and I was able to learn from them as well. I wouldn’t be the man, the wrestler that I am today had I not been in the ring with guys like that. Also, it’s that some of the talent they have gotten previously from TNA at that time didn’t pan out, so maybe WWE was a little gun shy. Plus, I think Samoa Joe was a big help going to NXT first, being a great talent, being very professional. I think that helped tremendously.
If he ever would have left WWE to reunite with his Bullet Club brothers in AEW:
Like I said, this is a business,” he said. “I’m going to go where business is best for AJ Styles. I like WWE. I like everything about it. And I know it. I’m used to it. I don’t want to leave. This is a business, though. This is what we do for a living. Was it close? I wouldn’t say it was close for me. Like I said, I want to be in WWE. The situation with Gallows and Anderson, you know, with everything that’s going on, they should have went ahead and went that route when their second contracts came around. But hindsight is 20/20. You’ve read the dirt sheets and whatnot, and you know how pissed I was about the whole situation. Not at them, but at the situation. I think they’re happier doing what they’re doing now. If that’s the case, then I’m happy for them and, like I said, everything happens for a reason.
On his WrestleMania matchups against Nakamura and The Undertaker:
The expectations for me and Nakamura were so high that I don’t think anybody could have reached them,” Styles said. “It was a great match, it really was, and it even continued into another story with him and I. Has it been surpassed? Yeah. I think the match with The Undertaker, even though it was cinematic and the way it was. Would he and I have preferred to be in a ring? I think so, in front of thousands and thousands of people. That would’ve been great, but things happen the way they do, and we were able to have a fantastic cinematic match that worked. It really, really worked and during the process of filming you’re going, ‘This could be really good. This is really different. We were excited to see…and for me, I was a little worried, too, because you never know how people are going to take these matches. But we thought we had something great, and when you see it back, you’re like, ‘Wow, that was really great.’