As noted, AJ Styles sat down for an interview with Chris Van Vliet during the latest installment of his ‘INSIGHT’ podcast.
In addition to the highlights we previously published from the in-depth discussion, “The Phenomenal One” also spoke about an emotional moment he shared with Shane ‘Hurricane’ Helms after his WWE retirement, as well as how he believes he was not originally scheduled to wrestle John Cena during “The Last Time Is Now” farewell tour
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On an emotional moment with Shane ‘Hurricane’ Helms after his retirement from WWE: “It got emotional, because when I went back in Gorilla, it seemed like most of our roster was there waiting on me. Abyss pulls me in like a big brother. The way he pulled me in, and everybody’s just kind of there hugging me and stuff like that. It was shortly after that when I was done hugging everybody, freaking really hit me. I knew it was about to happen, so I had to get away from everybody, and I tried. They had a locker room away from everybody else that I’d found that they were storing luggage in, so I was like, I’ll just change it here. It’s quiet, it’s cold, it’s nice. So I was changing there all by myself with the luggage. I kind of got back there. I ran in there, and I thought I closed the door behind me, but apparently it didn’t. It just bounced right wide open. I had to stand there for a second and just gather my thoughts and shed a couple tears because A.J. Styles is no longer wrestling again. That was tough, but it was okay. I just needed Shane Helms being the first one to come in there and he knew what was up. I think he’s been through that somewhat before, kind of gave me a hug. I just needed to get that out, and I needed that hug from Shane, and that was okay. It was emotional. I don’t know how to explain it any more than that.”
On believing he was not originally scheduled to face John Cena during “The Last Time Is Now” retirement tour: “Well, it was the opportunity to throw back to every guy that we ever wrestled that meant a lot to us and that’s all it was. I mean, we didn’t have much of a story, so we had to tell one in the ring. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to wrestle him. I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t know who called it, but I know that I wasn’t in the picture. Something else needed to happen. I don’t know what that was, someone’s gonna have to tell that story because I don’t know. I’m just positive that I wasn’t the guy that was supposed to wrestle him.” Styles continued, “Nothing, never a talk of me having a match with John (Cena). Listen, I just assume I’m not that guy. I’m not that guy again. Sometimes I feel like even though I’ve been in WWE for 10 years, I’m not a WWE guy… That was just one of those times.”
Also during the interview, AJ Styles reveals how he thinks he upset Triple H due to how one aspect of his WWE retirement was handled.
