AJ Styles is wrapping up one of the most “Phenomenal” careers of the past generation of pro wrestling.
The current WWE Tag-Team Champion along with Dragon Lee on the WWE Raw red brand spoke with Uncrowned for an in-depth interview this week, during which he reflected back on some of his memorable moments and rivalries from his tenure in WWE.
While talking about his WWE days, Styles spoke about how Vince McMahon specifically wanted the version of AJ Styles from Japan, and how he was curious how familiar John Cena was with him and his work prior to the two locking horns for a memorable rivalry in 2016 and 2017.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts.
On how Vince McMahon specifically wanted the version of AJ Styles from Japan when he first came to WWE in 2016: “There’s no doubt in my mind that I may not have made it to WWE without Japan. My tenure in Japan helped me figure out who I was and what I wanted to do. When I went to WWE, Vince wanted me to be who I was in Japan. That style from Japan did not change when I went to WWE. That’s the guy Vince wanted, so I didn’t have to change anything. Maybe that’s why it got over so well.”
On being curious about how familiar John Cena was with him prior to their first match together in WWE: “When you’re in the WWE bubble, it’s very difficult to keep up with anything else, so I wondered how familiar he was with it. My thinking is that, over time, he heard more and did more research. Before our first match, he told me that he was trying to find stuff on me to cut a promo, but he couldn’t really find much. I’m assuming a lot of his research came from the Bullet Club, and that’s what he knew about it.”
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(H/T to Cory Brennan of Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes from the AJ Styles’ Uncrowned interview.)
