WWE superstar AJ Styles was the latest guest on Ryan Satin’s Out Of Character podcast where the former two-time WWE champion spoke about his run in NJPW, how he was able to avoid NXT, and how he thought Chairman Vince McMahon was going to put him in overalls because of his Southern accent. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says he was ready to have a good run America after his success in NJPW, but was worried Vince was going to put him overalls due to his Southern accent:
It was one of those things that I was like, ‘Hey, listen if they’re looking for an AJ Styles, I would be happy to give it a shot’’ and I was willing to go down to NXT for a couple of months to get my feet wet and then get to a main brand like a Raw or SmackDown,” AJ said of his early discussions with WWE. “I had no idea what was going to happen. There was talk of, ‘Hey, I don’t know if we can keep your name.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s fine, I’ll be whoever you want me to be but I have this huge tattoo on my side that says AJ, but you can call me whatever you want.’ Listen, I was worried about this southern accent that I can’t shake, that Vince was going to make me wear overalls and come out to a little country song or something with a banjo. I was more worried about that.
How he didn’t have to go to NXT:
Absolutely, the fact that Samoa Joe was still in NXT and I was able to jump the line I was like, ‘Okay.’ I was not going to argue with them about it. I was happy to get the opportunity. Timing. I think that had a lot to do with it. Being in Orlando was a huge thing for me, being in TNA for so long. Then, to have the opportunity to be number three, as crazy as that sounds, in the Royal Rumble, was huge for me. It was huge.
(H/T and transcribed by Fightful
)