WWE star AJ Styles was the recent guest on the “Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast”, which you can listen to in full at this link. Below are some interview highlights:
On Having the Best 2016 from WWE:
Well, if they’re not, something is wrong. This guy [self], comes from Japan, not sure what is going to happen, and one thing leads to another – I get a shot against Roman Reigns the Monday after WrestleMania; I earn a shot to face Roman Reigns for the Heavyweight Championship, so unreal.
On His Quick Opportunity Coming to WWE:
I think that’s 100% what happened. Now, I don’t know if it was, listen, we need something fresh and new, or everybody is hurt, we need somebody to come in, and I believe that is what happened over anything. There was a lot of guys hurt at the time. I was able to come in there and come through on an unfortunate opportunity, but a great opportunity for me that guys were hurt and I needed to fill in basically.
On Samoa Joe Paving the Way for Him to Be a Success in WWE:
Right, and he’s doing really well. We all knew—at least, I did, that he should have been in WWE a long time ago. He could do it all. With his size, and to be able to move the way he does, it makes me really angry. The guy is an unbelievable athlete, who is also great on the microphone, so there is nothing that Samoa Joe can’t do and the fact that he can come here and become Samoa Joe—and to tell you the truth, Samoa Joe is the one who got this started for everybody because he was at NXT first so it wasn’t necessarily me that got it started, it was Joe where he showed that he can mix it up with anybody and have great matches and have a good attitude most importantly. A lot of things are looked over, and I believe attitude is everything in this business because you are going to have your ups and downs and have things that you don’t agree with, but it’s your attitude whether or not you succeed, and Joe has a great attitude.
On Having the Right Attitude to Succeed:
Right, and you have to know what your job is, and your job is not always about having the best match on the card. Your job could be to make someone else look amazing. Sometimes the story is not about you, even if you are in the match, sometimes it’s not about you, it’s about the story and a lot of people can’t get passed that and want to end up doing something else to make them shine rather than the story. It takes a mature guy or girl to get in the ring and know that, and sometimes it’s unfortunate that it happens, but you have to make sure to know what is going on.
On Terry Taylor Teaching Him About Having the Right Attitude:
I think I was in my 30’s and had somebody talk to me. I believe the guy was Terry Taylor, who said, hey man, even though you are in this match it isn’t about you, it’s about the story. Do your job, that is all we need you do. We don’t need you to go out there and kill yourself, just go out there and do your job. You can’t always be the top storyline. Everybody has to have their opportunity—and you will get back there again, but right now we need somebody else to fill that position, to fill that top story right now. That is not always a bad thing once you realize it, a little less pressure to be honest with you.
On Gaining More Confidence Since Coming to WWE:
You are only going to get this way through experience, to be in the ring with pretty much everybody, and that is what you want. Mistakes have been made by myself and with guys, I have been in the ring with. Only experience will help you react quickly like that—and when things don’t go the way they should, not to panic either.
On How His Life Has Changed Since Becoming a WWE Superstar:
I can tell you this, working everywhere else, WWE is the first time where somebody has stopped me as I am going through the drive-thru to get my autograph and wanted to take a picture with me where I am still in the car, and that happened last night. They literally followed me to the drive-thru, which isn’t a bad thing. At some point, I am going to have to put out a book to fans and explain the reasons why where I see certain things being unacceptable and then there is a time and a place to get your autographs and a way to say it so women and men that wrestle for WWE will be more polite. There needs to be a manual on when to get an autograph and how to do it and when to do it. A lot of people don’t know what they have gone through to get to the venue all day. They could have been flying all night long to get there and then they bombard you without saying please or thank you—don’t get me wrong, I am very thankful for the fans because they make sure I still have a job, wish I can be nicer and more polite, but it works both ways.
On His Tights Being Torn Against His Match with Dean Ambrose:
Well, I remember going through those chairs and thinking, man that really hurt my butt. I remember thinking that. I think it was after Dean went through the table, he said to me, ‘oh bro, I think you’re going to need some new tights.’ I was like, oh man, I knew it was ripped, but I didn’t know how bad, so I thought to myself, well, what are you going to do? You just have to go on like nothing happened and even though there was this huge tear and my butt cheek was showing, people kind of forgot about it after what we had done, after the finish of what we had done. I feel like we accomplished what we needed to do if people didn’t worry about my butt cheek hanging out and were focusing on the match. A lot of people were saying it was a ‘wardrobe malfunction’ and that was not true. That would be saying that the guy who did my stuff didn’t do it right, which isn’t true. A metal piece of the chair sliced my tights and my butt. My butt was bleeding, so it wasn’t a wardrobe malfunction.
On Being Part of a Non-Title Match at WrestleMania:
I look forward to WrestleMania. You have to understand, this was something I never thought I would have the opportunity to be in. I remember watching the WWE Network and thinking wow, I am never going to be able to be part of a WrestleMania. I tried to play the game that it’s not really a big deal to me, but it kind of is. It’s WrestleMania, it’s the biggest thing going on in favor of what we do, so that was a big deal, so to be at WrestleMania, especially with all the talent we have and to be there. Think about how many championship matches we have, there is no way we will be able to present them at WrestleMania—at least on the main show, so to be part of WrestleMania would be a big deal to me.
