Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AJ Styles (Best Of CVV) - Retiring in 2026, His Phenomenal Career in WWE & TNA, The Undertaker, John Cena

Episode Date: December 25, 2025

AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at the DDPY Performance Center in Atlanta, GA in this interview from Episode #727 in March 2025. He discusses his legendary wrestling career, saying no to WWE in 2001, his legendary matches in TNA, why he hated working in the six-sided ring, his shocking Royal Rumble debut that the cameras missed, being The Undertaker's final opponent, the John Cena retirement tour, coming back from a near career-ending injury, when he thinks his in-ring career will end and more!  Please support our sponsors!   PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFFSTASH: Go to https://get.stash.com/INSIGHTto see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures   SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV2025 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount   NORDVPN: Exclusive deal! https://nordvpn.com/cvv Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!FACTOR: Use code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF to get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year!GLD: New customers get 50% Off with code INSIGHT at https://GLD.com PRIZEPICKS: Download the app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup!  TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and reach your financial goals faster: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv MIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVVand use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for free with the code CVV at https://bluechew.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Flee! We're finally making this happen. Finally. Finally. Holy cap. It's more my fault than yours, obviously. We were supposed to do a bad blood weekend. And I got a text from you the night before, and you're like, I think I might have broken my ankle or foot or both.

Yeah, little did I know. It was actually worse than breaking it. You know, I didn't know at the time. But yeah, that was like, oh, crap. So, eh. How heartbreaking was it, though? it's your return, and then you get put on the shelf again. Oh, man.

And I knew I'd broke it, right? Because if you've broken it before, same foot. Yeah. I was like, I broke it again, and I'm pissed. Because now I know how long it's going to take to get back. But like, again, little did I know. It was much worse than a break. What was worse about it?

Because it's tendons. And my doctor, who is also my friend, it was like, do not look this up. I'm like, I'm going to look this up. And it's a career ending energy. And it happens in car wrecks and in professional football mostly. That's usually when it happens. And in football, of course, like it's one of those things, depending how severe it is. And I was literally by the skin of my teeth.

I was able to, they were, they're like, we can have surgery. We can do surgery on your foot. And it will heal faster. But there could be complications as you get older. we don't know. If we don't have to have surgery, let's try to do some therapy and get it back to where it is.

And lucky for me, man, I was able to, you know, get that therapy that I needed. It wasn't easy. It sucked. It's so crazy that you have to learn how to walk again to a certain extent. Like,

how did I forget how to run? You know, little things like that because I was in a boot for six weeks. Yeah. And I got six weeks, you know, in therapy, trying to figure this thing out.

it'll mess with you. But three months after the injury, you're back. Crazy, right? Yeah. And then you haven't lost a step? You know, I think it's one of those things where I'm so afraid of losing a step. I'm doing everything I can to make sure it doesn't look like I've lost a step. Yeah.

You know? But it's, it took a toll on me. Like, there's, it's still, because I go out there and I'm, listen, I got, two gears all or nothing is that one gear i don't know but the fact that you know i'm going to go in there i'm going to give you it all and then have their adrenaline wears off i was like oh now it's sore a little bit you know so you might catch me limp in afterwards until i get used to this foot you know having all the you know stretching it out all those tendons you know and stuff like that but you know so far so good did you have a moment after that injury where you're like this might be it this is it this is i was like

this is it how am i going to recover again you know i was like this might be it. Really? And it sucked because, like you said, I just came back. I was not hurt, you know, previous, you know, after I wrestled Cody, right? And I quit match. I was not hurt during that time. So I'm sitting at home going, okay, guys, okay.

And then, hey, we're going to bring you back in Nashville. It's going to be great. Hurt myself. Yeah. I was like shoot pissed. I was mad. Like it may look like I was acting. I was not.

You don't curse, though. So there's a lot of freckons? A lot of freaks. You know, I was, it was one of those you're so mad. You don't, what can you say? Yeah. And so you maybe try to find this, you know, I beat on the mat. And I was like, I was so mad, you know, because this is my moment and I screwed it up.

But you're back now. And I'm back now. Mind you, I say I screwed it up. Not anybody else. It was, this isn't ballet. This is wrestling. People get hurt. Mistakes happen.

And I blame nobody but myself. Yeah. So just want to throw that out there. This means a lot to me that we're sitting down. You were my guy. You were, I'd never seen anyone work like you before when I saw you in TNA. Oh, wow. So for us to be sitting down now, almost 20 years after me watching your first match,

this means a lot. So thank you. Yeah, shoot, I'm looking, I've been looking forward to this. I know, I said this before we started talking on it. Like, you have had interviews with anybody who's ever done anything in wrestling, especially. And I was like, man, I've got to get with this guy. we've got to do something. And then, you know, like you said, but then I get hurt. And then we're like, oh, no, was this going to happen? So, no, man, it's a, it's a pleasure to be on the show.

Well, thank you. And, like, going back to that, I'd never seen anyone work like you before. Where did that come from? Like, I remember the first time I saw you, I went, this guy must have been a gymnast or something like that. No, never, never a gymnast. Uh, I, I wrestled in, you know, I played sports in high school, and I wrestled in college. And my wife was a cheerleader. And so she knew how to do the flips and I thought it can't be that hard. You know, and then we, we hung out after school. I remember there was, you know, a pole folding mat that you could, you know, they just left out there, right?

But it was soft to land on, so it was like, I could practice my backflips and stuff. And it, you know, kind of came naturally, wasn't that hard. And she was the one that showed me how that, you know, make sure it's right. And then I perfected it a little bit more. And then once you do one back tuck, you kind of figure it out. like, oh, and once you can control your body, all these flips become easy. They're not very hard anymore, you know,

once you experience it. Because it's like a carton. If you want to do a standing tuck correctly, it's you jump straight up and then you turn. Like the cartoon, right? Just like that, it feels really weird, but once you figure that out, everything else becomes easy, I think.

What did you think you were going to do for a living before you felt for wrestling? I really didn't have a clue, to be honest with you. You know, as a kid, you know, a basketball player. football player, you know, something. What was your sport? You know, we didn't have football in elementary school where I was at,

so I played basketball. That was my sport, baseball. By the time I got to middle school, I just was playing basketball. By the time I got high school, it then turned into wrestling and track and football and then settled down to just football and wrestling as I graduated. So, I mean, I was into everything, but I knew I wasn't going to be a football player. I knew I could go to, you know, and wrestle in college, but then what? Never really knew.

Honestly, I was kind of lost there for a minute. When I started training, I was a bottled water delivery guy. Like, the big five-calon jugs I was carrying them in, you know, and doing that. That's what I did. So luckily, luckily, I think wrestling found me. And once I thought that there was a chance of being able to make money in wrestling going, this is a good idea, it didn't matter anymore because I fell in love with it. You kind of found it by accident though, right?

Yeah, yeah. I had some friends who said that they were going to go to a training, you know, somewhere to train. I go, oh, yeah, right. I bet you are. And sure enough, they found a place about 30 minutes from the house. I was like, okay, I'll meet you guys up there. I'll check it out with you. And I took that first bump.

I was hooked. I knew I could do this. I don't know what it was because it wasn't a pleasant bump, right? It doesn't feel good. Most people think it's trampolines. It is not, not even close. But it was at that moment, I was like, I can do this. And then you, like I was obsessed with it.

And you couldn't have told me any different. My girlfriend, bless her heart, you know, on the weekends we're supposed to be spending time. We're going to independent matches, you know, in little barns and terrible looking places and armories. And I had to tell her, like, one day this is going to pay off. She still ended up marrying me, by the way. I don't know why. But, yeah, thank God. That was, you know, we've been married for, I think it's 24 years now.

You think it is? 2000, is that right? 24 years. August will be 25. So we're doing good. That might be the only thing I actually was right about, you know, is one day this was going to pay off. You know, luckily it did because it was tortured her. I'm like, go on a date to an indie show.

This sucks. Was there a point where it didn't feel like it was going to pay off? I don't know. I feel like things happened pretty quick. I mean, I got in the ring way before I was supposed to because I could do flips. And, I mean, a month into training, I was already in the ring. That's way dumb.

But the opportunity to learn from guys in the ring while you're wrestling is, I think, the best way to learn. You know, and you better learn quick or nobody's going to want to wrestle you. So I was a sponge, man. And anytime someone told me something, they only had to tell me once. I was going to make sure that I remembered it. And it just kind of took off from there.

And then we had kind of a developmental with WCW at the time. We had some big, it was the first time I met Bob's app. He came in and became friends with him because he was doing his thing for WCW. And a lot of the other guys were there from WCW. And so while they were watching their guys, they were able to see Air Paris and myself wrestling and having decent matches. You're doing some crazy stuff. And that's how we got our opportunity in WCW.

What was the first big break for you? I think that was it. That was the first big break. It's like, wow, I get a chance to wrestle. I mean, before that, I'd done extra stuff, you know, in WCW. but it was that chance to get in there and do it in a WCW ring

in Baltimore, as a matter of fact. They gave us a trial in Baltimore, Air Paris and myself, and kind of busted out the shooting start to the floor in that match and other things that I'm sure I'd hate now watching, you know, but that was the,

you know, we were only into, that was, I started in 9th, 99 by 2001, I was in WCW. Wow. That's kind of quick. Yeah. You know, so I was at the right place, the right time, the right guys watching.

How close were you at that point in time to maybe possibly going to WWE? I don't think it was close at all. Didn't they offer you a developmental deal? So it was after WCW went under, right? So I had been under contract with WCW for five months. Johnny Ace calls me and said WWE's not picking up your contract and freaking broke me

so I went to and felt sorry for myself for about a good week and that was like all right here we go and so I believe I'm trying to think how quickly it happened I want to see I want to say that

at that moment I believe the NWA was having their 50th anniversary. And I believe that it was in Petersburg, Florida. Does that sound right? Peter, Bert. Anyway, somewhere down in Florida.

Yeah. And some Japanese guys are going to be there. And I was like, I'm going to go down there. I'm going to wrestle. They're going to want me. I'm going to go to Japan and wrestle. That's how I'm going to make it back. Wow.

I went down there. I wrestled Christopher Daniels for the first time. First time we met, first time we wrestled. and we they were just we connected man like it was perfect

every like our timing was the same everything was a you know and Chris for Daniels at that time was like if you can't

have a good match with him you might as well and we jelled so well after that match I really started traveling a lot a lot

but I think during that time of doing Indies and traveling a lot I want to say that's when I was offered I did two dark matches for WWE

and I was offered a contract for $500 a week oh no I'm sorry $500 yeah it was a week $500 a week to move to Cincinnati and I'm sure you've heard this story before but like I was like wait

so I have to move to Cincinnati for and I'll make $500 week the same amount of money I was making at my bottled water job you know and I'm going to I had to pay more taxes on that $500 than I'm making. And I'm, you know, and I'm just thinking all this stuff I'm headed.

My wife can't move with me. She's in college about to finish. You know, she's going to be a teacher. And I was like, this just doesn't sound right. And I believed in my heart that I was making the right decision. And I even told Johnny, as much as I'd love to come up there and train, I just could not have my wife moving with their parents. I didn't think that was right.

My job is to take care of her, not the other way right. Which is crazy to think. You were saying no to WWE at that time. I said no. I mean, I said no to a developmental that's never promised, right? It's true. HWA was the developmental back then. But you know what?

Not only was it the best decision because, you know, TNA would happen shortly after that in 2002. But HWA stopped being a developmental for them. shortly after that as well. So I am guaranteed to not have made it through that cut again. You know, like I wouldn't have made it. I mean, I wasn't a big guy. What did I have to offer them? There was no, you know, smaller guys really that did anything in WWE that time.

So I think it worked out pretty good based on what happened. And you were the perfect person at the perfect time in TNA. Again, I remember Jerry Jarrett. I was told that they were doing an independent show. I didn't really know much about it. They were looking for talent. Eh, you know, I didn't think anything about it. It was just another indie show, and I was getting money to do it.

Okay, I can do it. Drive up to Nashville. Me and David Young had, you know, a match that we've had before, just turned it up a little bit because they wanted to see more. That was it. I didn't think much of it. And again, I was at the right place, at the right time, were the right guy watching.

And, you know, surely have that. Now I'm with TNA. So I'm going up, I think it was, was it every Wednesday? It was every Wednesday for, what, $999? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, again, I'm not thinking anything.

This is still NWA TNA. Yeah, it's NWA TNA. Yeah, we still had girls dancing in the cages, you know? So, yeah, I didn't think much of anything was going to last. I'm sure no one did. And based on what happened, it shouldn't have lasted, you know, because I think they got, I don't say they got scammed, or maybe it is, you know, and they were supposed to get this, they didn't get that,

not as many people could see it as we thought. And luckily, the Carter's came in and kind of picked that thing up. And then after about three months of being on NWA, T&A, I was like, oh, I guess this is a thing now, you know, and then it kind of grew pretty quick after that. So when did you start to feel like the guy? in TNA. Oh. Oh, no.

I don't. Stop being modest. I'm serious. Like, I believe that I could have good matches with anybody. But we always, I felt like there was always someone that I can learn from. And as long as there's always someone I can learn from. And to me, if I can learn from you, that means you're a bigger star. And I always felt like those guys were, I was still surrounded by those guys because we had

sting come in. And I respect that guy. much, you know, such a nice guy, you know, and I was, thank, thank God he wasn't, uh, some of these other heroes that other guys have met, but mine was freaking awesome. No steam. Um, and you know, we got Kevin Nash, Booker T. Like, I learned something from all these guys. And then Kurt Angle as it progressed, these are the guys that I'm in the ring with learning

from. So I just never felt like I was that guy. I think I really felt like I was, doing something right as a star when I turned into Long Wolf AJ. I felt like that was really coming into my own doing what I wanted to do, being who I wanted to be. I think that one, that one helped a lot because there's a part of it that was very real, you know, so it was easy to get in character. I just remember seeing my first ever X-Division match and just being like, this. I love this. And it's like, it's you and it's Joe and it's Daniels and Frankie Cazarian and Amazing Red,

like the talent that was around. Low-key. Low-key. The mid-2000s was insane. Sanjay died, like so many talented, insanely talented people. Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, all those guys were there. I mean, it was stacked. And everybody knew it. And we were doing something special. And, you know, even the ultimate X match was special.

It was different. It was weird. Like, the six-sided ring was different. It made us different. It sucked as a ring. Really? Oh, it's, I didn't realize how rough it was on my body. until we got back to a squared ring.

And I was like, oh my God. I forgot that these are much better to bump in. The ropes or the actual map? The actual map, because it's pillars under the six-sided ring, the pillars so you can move them in and out. Where in a squared ring, it's in the middle, right? That bounce, you know, whatever you might get.

You could take a bump right on that pillar. So you can imagine that hurts. and so there was a point in time where we're overseas and we're in England and it was a big show and Kurt and I were wrestling and he said he was going to give me the belly belly off the top. I remember taking that. I go, I'm never taking that again.

Don't ask me, Kurt. That's killing me. And then, of course, we get the squared ring. He was like, hey, do you mind? I'm like, okay. And he gave me it in a squared ring. And I was like, oh, I landed. And it was like, nothing comes.

compared to what it was. I was like, I do I can take, and right then and there, as pissed off as I was about going to a squared ring and abandoning the six out of ring. It was at that moment.

I go, I'm okay with the squared ring now. But just from a fundamental standpoint of just like optics, were you upset when they got rid of the six seven thing? Yeah, that's it, because that's who we were.

Yeah. When you saw TNA and you saw a six-sided ring, you knew that was TNA. No one were doing that. Maybe in Mexico, but we made it who we were. Yeah. And I think they,

lost their identity to a certain extent when they went to, you know, just a regular ring, just like everybody else. It was a few things. It was a six-sided ring. And the way the camera moved on the jib, oh yeah. Nobody was doing that at that point in time. Yeah. The camera would move all the way around on the park. Yeah. And they did some innovative stuff. It's easy to know if you've, you know, done something well in another company, if WWE then starts doing it. Like, oh, that's a good idea. We'll do it too. Yeah. You know, and then their production always better, you know, than, but, you know, if I were running a company, if you were doing something that translated well to fans, guess what?

I'm going to do it too. My most rewatchable match of all time is Unbreakable 2005. So it's you and Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. Just take me to that week. You're setting up this match and you know it's going to be different, but you probably don't know it's going to be that great. That great. Because we've wrestled each other so much, not necessarily.

necessarily in triple threads, but we brusseled each other. We know each other very well. It could have been better. No. We went home way earlier than we were supposed to. We got mixed up in a spot. Joe did something. I was like, wait, are we supposed to be going here?

Nope. Bam, we did it anyway. So we ad-libbed a good 10 minutes of that match. All that at the end is totally ad-libbed. Like, thank God we knew each other so well, because we could just communicate and get to where we needed to be. So it could have been really good. It was just good.

But did you know afterwards, and even though we ad-libbed it, that was special? We knew it was good because we pulled out some pretty cool stuff within that match that we hadn't done before. So, yeah, we knew it was good, but we didn't know people were going to praise it as much as they did. We know we're just going out there doing our thing. This is what we do, you know?

That's the type of match, though, that if you weren't watching TNA at that point in time, you watch that match and you go, well, how can I not watch this? Yeah. Well, that's a good thing, right? And I think we were the main event of that, of that pay-per-view. So it definitely worked out, and I don't think, I don't think an Ex-Division match had been the main event until then.

So we knew that we had to put on a show, but then again, we weren't stressed to the point where, oh, God, this is a maker break for us. Now, we just went out there and did what we did, and it just worked out perfect for three guys who know each other. I can call Samoa Jews moves. I can call Christopher Daniels moves. I can call all their moves to them. And they could do the same with each other and myself. So we knew each other so well. It almost didn't matter that we kind of went home a little early

because we found a way to make it work. What's the biggest difference between that version of you 20 years ago and this version of you that Russell's now? I think it's intensity. I'm very, very intense. And this, like, I blow myself up. you know, bringing the intensity rather than running the ropes. Like, because I want them to see this, this angry.

Like, when AJ gets in the ring, it snaps. Like, I'm a different person. Like, I will smile before and after, but when we step through those ropes, I'm going to take somebody's head off. Like, I want you to see it and everything that I do, I want you to think, I think this guy's really pissed. You know, he may hurt me, you know, like, I want them to get the idea of who I am. So I just, I've turned up that intensity and little,

things like flips and stuff like that, they're cool if they're done at the right place at the right time. Because I've realized that people don't remember wrestling. They remember moments. And I want to make moments happen rather than, you know, the wrestling. And sometimes it's those little things in between the wrestling that are the biggest spots. Like, I want people to watch my match and go, wow, that was good. And then someone asked, well, what was so good about? Like, I don't know. It just was. It's because all those little things in between that make the match. How long did it take you to realize you didn't need to do flip after flip after flip in order to have a great match?

Oh, man, slowly but surely it dawned on me. I remember being at an indie show and we had, there's so many great guys at that time that were doing the indies. And by the time I get out there, every flip had been done. I was like, I don't know what to do. So I did, you know, just a regular house show dive. but really try to make it as pretty as I can. And I got the same reaction had I just jumped over the top rope and done a crazy flip.

I said, wait a minute. If that's all I have to do, let me make sure that I make the little things look like they're effortless and beautiful. And rather than do it something that could, you know, I could get dropped on my head or somebody not catch me at all, this seems a lot easier.

And how can I keep doing that and using it at the right time? rather than every time. Are there moves you can't do now? I can't do the spiral tab. At all? I can't. I bet you could pull it out.

Listen, it's scary because it's a front flip and they end up twisting. And so, you know, if you don't use it, you lose it, that's real. And I'm just, I'm a little scared that I can't pull it off the way that I have before. And until I get back in some gymnastic place and work on it, it's just not going to happen. When was the last time you did a spiral tap? That's a good question. I don't know. Maybe Matt Hardy, when him and I wrestled in TNA.

Maybe it was Bubba. I can't remember. So 10 plus years ago? Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I've lost it. It's a different kind of flip. It's not the same.

Even when I watch other guys do it, I still don't do it like them. No, they don't do it like you. That's a better way of saying. So, yeah, they like to twist themselves over there coming off. I don't want twist. I want a peek and then turn. So it's a little bit different. So there's a stalling involved to make it look beautiful and then go.

But I've kind of lost it, man. How did you realize you could even do it? Wow. I remember. So in WCW, I was doing the shooting star to the floor. Billy Kidman, he did me. Hate was like he would call me AJ Stills. And I wanted to hurt him so bad.

You know, legit, but he was Kidman at that time. And WCW, you can't be touched. All right. I just, and they, and so they asked me if I wanted to do shooting spires. I said, no, no, no. I won't do it. Because it's Kidman. It's Kidman's move.

I'll just do something that he can't. And that's how I came up with the spiral tab. So, yeah, all because Kidman hated me doing the shooting Star Press, but at the time he wasn't doing it. So they did come back and started doing it. So, kudos to him. I always love the back flip into the roll. reverse DDT.

Yeah. So that's something I got from Dragon Kid. I mean, guys in my era of wrestling, we watched everything, everything. WCW, WW, WWE, Old School, Japan, Noah, All Japan, New Japan, Bichinoku Pro. Like, we watched all this stuff. And so while we were tape trading, I got one of Dragon Kid doing the backflip catch, and he put you in the Dragon Sleeper. Right?

I go, well, I'm a big fan of sting. What if I flip, catch, right into the scorpion debt drop? That's how that came up. Now, we still don't have a name for it. I think they've called it the phenomenal something. I don't know. But I was like, hey, I'm going to hit you in the back, flip, slop drop. Yeah.

Doesn't sound as cool, I know, but I think it was the styling DDT. Maybe that's what it was called. But, you know, I was never, I had a couple moves where I, told, you know, guys the name of it. They were like, what? Don't you, like, yeah, they want me to name it something else. I'm like, sorry, man. I don't.

When was the last time you did that? I don't think you've done that in WWE, have you? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I've done it with, but there's guys that are capable of understanding what it is. Some guys don't know. And so for those who know, it makes perfect sense. It's an easy move for them to take.

For those who've never, they don't understand it, it can get sloppy. real quick. So you got to pick and choose who you do it with so it turns out right. Not everybody can do these moves because they've not practiced them. If you came up on the Indies, you had to be able to know how to do everything. And I think that's why so many of us, you know, in that era of, you know, we were able to do everything. We could take everything. We could do everything.

And, you know, aside from Joe, you know, we were all kind of the similar size. You know, we weren't too big, we weren't too small. You're right there in the middle. We can work anybody. Joe, he's such an amazing athlete that he's not supposed to be able to do the things that he does. And he just, he's unbelievable. He's unbelievable. So not everybody's a Samoa Joe.

There's nobody like him. Nobody moves like him. Man, he's amazing. And I remember people be intimidated by Joe. And I was like, have you ever worked him? They go, no, dude. I was like, he. He is so good.

He has scared you when he hadn't even touched me in the ring, but it makes it look like he's killing me. Like, that's how good he is. So, yeah, Samoa Joe is one of the best. When you were doing your best work in TNA, was there ever an opportunity during any of that point to get scooped up and go to WWE? No one ever really said anything to me. But I'll tell you, there was an instance when Christian and did.

Dixie came out and kind of made, it was a big meeting. And Dixie came out and said, listen. And basically said something to the fact, like, if you don't want to be here, we'll let you go. At that moment, I looked over at Christian to see what he was going to do. What year would this be? This was, it's got to be 2009, 8, 10, I don't know, somewhere around there. Yeah. But I was watching him because I looked up to Christian.

Like he's, he's amazing too. These guys like, he's a ring general for sure. And I was watching him to see if he got up because if he had gotten up, I was like you had to leave during that meeting. I don't know. Would she expected us to leave? But I kind of felt like she was saying that you can go now. Wow.

And I was seriously, if he would have got up, I would have got up to. And hopefully he would have got me in the WWE or something. But there were never any like, hey, when's your contract up? We'd like to chat with you. No. never really heard anything. Never. And it wasn't even, like when you did leave TNA,

there was a gap before debuting in WWA. Yeah. Yeah. Even there was talks about Japan, but they'd already, like, I remember them thinking that, oh, he doesn't want to come here. He wants to do the TNA stuff. I'm like, well, no, his contract's not over.

You know. The contract ended in 2014. Yes. And you debuted at the Rumble in 2014. in 2016. So there was, what, a year and a bit? Yeah, yeah. And even I think there were a couple months in between.

I did Ring of Honor and stuff like that before I went to. It just kind of, the timing kind of worked out. Because Finn was leaving, and I kind of just, we literally just switched places. You know, except he went to WWE and I went to Japan. Was something happening at TNA in that point of time? Because think about it, you left in 2016, Bobby Rood left in 2016, Kurt Angle left in 2016. I think some other people as well.

What was going on at that point? They hired Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and I believe Eric was trying to do the right thing to see where we're at, you know, as far as getting people more eyes on us that were growing. And unfortunately, it didn't work out the way it was supposed to. You know, we lost a lot of money. I think I was kind of pissed at Hogan at the time

because I was like, why does he talk about T&A? you know, why does he not helping us? He's not advertising at all. His book or whatever it is, he was writing the time of the shows that he never talked about TNA. I was pissed. But I now realize, I think he was embarrassed. It was embarrassing to him to talk about that. So he did it.

And, you know, I think Dixie was trying to do some things. And it was just to keep button heads. So it just kind of fell apart. And when it fell apart, lost a lot of money. When they lost a lot of money, they expected me to take a pay cut. You know, my contract was up. And is that number right, 60% pay cut? It was. 60% pay cut for a guy who's been there 12 years.

And has done nothing but good work there. Not gotten in trouble. And they didn't say they were going to, well, the dates are not going to be as many. They didn't say that either. Oh, 60% of my dates. You really are. Plus the same amount of travel and everything. And so I was like, it was one of those things. I was like, man, this isn't right. On principle alone, I can't be here anymore. And I expect, I think they expected me to stay anyway. There was a, you know, I remember the day before Thanksgiving, John, what's Big John's last thing?

He works for W.O.B. now. Sorry, John. I don't know your name anymore. Anyway. Big John. Big John. He called me because, hey, I, I, over to friends house having Thanksgiving. And he says, hey, we're going to have you drop the championship, you know, the next show. I go, okay, all right, no problem. Because I think they were expecting me to go, hold on a second, wait, I'll sign. But I was like, man, I'm not going to do this with you.

You want me to lose. That's fine. I can lose. And then I'm going to figure it out. We're going to be all right. it was again timing was perfect I didn't know it at the time

I was a little scared because now after leaving TNA if I don't work I don't get paid that's how that works yeah so there's no I can't get hurt and you know for like three months

I think before I started new Japan you know I was making a I was hustling I was hustling And then Japan happened and it really blew up. You know, that was, again, timing again, you know, so, yeah. What would your career look like, do you think, if you had gone to WWE much earlier? Wouldn't have. Wouldn't have worked.

Wouldn't work. I don't think I was sure who AJ Stiles was exactly. I don't think I was mature enough to, I don't want to say mature enough. Maybe it was, I wasn't going to be bullied. I promise you that. And I think some of that went on. I'm just not that type of guy. I mean, I'll take a little bit.

Then I'm going to start swinging. You know, I'm not going to get bullied. That's just I was raised different. So I don't, I'm not saying everybody was like it, but I've heard some of that stuff goes on. I did, you know, I'm not one of those guys that goes out and drinking with the guys. And it's, nah, I'm not doing that. I just don't think it worked out. It would have worked out for me.

The time that I spent in Japan. And the way that I wrestled there, I just brought that same guy to WWE, at least by the second match I had. The first match, I was trying to be what I thought they wanted. And to Vince's credit, he told me what he wanted. And I was like, oh, I know that guy. I know him. I'm going to give you that guy because that's who I wanted to be anyway.

I also felt like it took you a little while to find out who you were. Like the charisma you had later in your TNA run is a lot more of what we see now. Yes. Versus the promos you were cutting early in TNA. Well, you know, because if you don't believe in what you're saying, it's hard to get into whatever that character is. Even when I was the Prince of Phenomenal, like, I enjoyed that as much as people hated it because I was able to show a different part of A.J. Stiles. Be a little goofy, do a little goofy things, you know, with Christian and Kurt Engel and all that stuff that we. did, I was good television to me, you know, as much as people hated, but, you know, turns into

lone wolf AJ styles, which essentially, so you got in Japan just turned up a little bit more, having a little bit more fun rather than being angry the whole time, you know, that's all that was. What's the scariest moment you've had in the ring? Oh, I can tell you. Ultimate X, Chris Sabin, myself, and Pedy Williams, which I think is a fantastic match. It is. If you ever watch back.

Yep. For some reason, I thought there was such a good idea that if I could hang from the rope, and Saban, I knew, was very capable of springboarding, drop kicking me to the port where I'll do, I guess, as an inside out, swing, front flip, like, when he hit me, I let go. And I go, oh, my God. And as I'm coming down, I was able to think to myself, I'm about the land on the back of my head, and I'm probably not going to get up from this. And I'm thinking about this as I go, I'm going down.

and I land perfect. And I was like laying there selling going, I'm never, ever doing that again, ever will do that again. Yeah, that was a, that was a scariest time. That was, you're, you were heading on like, it looked like you were about to land on your head. Oh, man, I thought it was. I literally thought it was.

If you could see me, I am tucked so hard trying to make sure that I made it. I didn't think I was going to. I thought I was literally laying on back of my head. I'd have been out cold for sure. This episode is brought to you by Zapier. If you look at the trends over the last few months, everyone has been talking about AI. But let's face it, talking about the trends doesn't help you be more efficient at work. For that, you need the right tools.

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There was a spot in a cage match where you jump off the cage, and I think you must have clipped the edge of the cage. Nobody catches you. Oh, I should have known better. I should have known. Not a soul called me. They fall down the rain, you know, but no one called me. They didn't catch you. I mean, I just ate the mat. And it was my idea. So, you know what? I mean, you're in there with a bunch of guys who, you know, they're getting closer at the end of their career.

Do they really want to risk catching a kid that would be fine even if we don't catch him? You know, it's my fault. That landing was like, boom, flat. I don't think I hit anybody with my hands. They just kind of fell like a, like I went bowling or something like that. But I didn't touch anybody. How did you even get the idea in? lethal lockdown. The ladder's going to be on top of that. And then you're going to climb and you're

going to hang from like the lighting scaffold. I have no idea who thought that was a good idea. It probably was me. Because it was me and James Storm that got up there and started a fight and I believe. Yeah. And I remember James being like, dude, what if we go through it? Not if we go through the top of the cage. Like, oh, I hope that didn't happen. You know, so when we go through, you'll see his hands come out like this to grab. So if he started going through, he was going to hang on to something. But it worked out, you know, it was fun.

That was an easy bump for both of us, I think. Did you ever have an idea? Because you did insane stuff in TNA. You've done insane stuff in WWE too. But did you ever have an idea where you're like, man, that's too much. I can't do that. Oh, man.

Not in TNA. I mean, it's pretty, you know, there was a, I don't know, there was a spot where Pedy and I were talking. he goes, hey, what if I give you this German suplex and you gut yourself on the guardrail? I'll have you on the apron and German suplex you. You do the flip bump and gut yourself on the guardrail. What a terrible idea that is. We tried it, but when I went to jump, I could feel it just yank me back.

Instead of up, I went back. And so I just ate that gargrel on my back from a German. Oh, man. I've had some terrible ideas that didn't go as planned. But then I've had some good ones that turned out to be all right. I remember watching Elevation X live and Rhino's lining you up for a gore. And I am worried for both of your well-being at this point. How is Rhino not going to fall?

And also, how are you not going to fall taking a gore 20 feet above the ring? Weakest gore ever given, I think. Because I don't know if he was genuinely like scared of heights, but it sure did look like it. Like, I was okay with it. But, and I'll tell you this, that match, Rhino was scheduled to lose. I was like, we, he can't fall off of this thing. He'll break his ankles. Like, he's too big.

Like, I have to lose. I have to fall. Like, we can't let him do this. He's going to get hurt. And so that's how that happened. But I thought it was very clever. And Rino, credit to him, had a lot of these good ideas. It's like, just hide and we'll have the crowd tell me where you are.

And it worked out so good. Again, that's one of those matches that this is going to be terrible. It turned out to be really, really good. I thought. I thought it was very entertaining. And even just like you, the fans were actually scared for us. Yes. Because it was high.

You look back at it. Holy crap. That was way up there. And you got what? Maybe a foot, half, two feet at the most as far as a scaffold to walk around on? It was, yeah. I think for what we had, we made it work. better than anybody thought we could.

What do you think of the prime years of TNA? Prime years of TNA. I just remember 2005 really starting. I remember Frankie Kazarian going out, and it was one of the first matches on the pay-per-view. And I was like, let's go, Frankie. You know, he started us off, bro. And it was exciting because you knew we were growing.

Spike TV, I believe we were part of that going on. And we knew we were growing. And that was exciting. I thought those were some really good years. And then we introduced Joe and he's freaking killing everybody. And it's just a current angle. Yeah, Christian arrives in 2005. The angle arrives in 06.

Like those years. Joe, I think Joe arrived in 04 or 05. Something around there, right? Just some TNA historian in the comments. Yeah, yeah. Actually. Yeah. It kind of all runs together, you know.

But it was just some really, really, really, cool moments. Like, we got Christian. We got Kurt Angle. Like, nobody knew about Kurt. Yeah, that was a legit secret, right? Oh, man, nobody knew. We saw the video. We're all watching. What is this? And then Kurt, look, whoa. Holy cow. So, yeah, it was, it was an exciting time, man. It really was. And we were all, I feel like we were all kind of the way some of the NXT kids are. I see this in them, where they know each other by their real names because they've been training together. and they want to see each other succeed and do well. That's the way we were.

We weren't trying to stab each other in the back. We wanted each other to do really, really well. Still the show, man. We want you to do it. You know, because it's only going to make what we're doing better. And everybody was like that. It was a really cool time. It is impossible to have a TNA, Mount Rushmore,

without AJ Stiles' face on there. So please do not be modest for the next minute or two. Okay. Your face is on there. Who are the other three? I'm biased though That's fine Because I'm gonna put my guys on there

The guys that I had Unbelievable matches You know Christopher Daniels Samoa Joe We got one more spot And that's it I know see that's the problem

You know I think I think a lot of people would see Kurt Because he was there for the long con And he had his best matches in TNA Well you know he was a lot of people don't know He was in TNA longer than he was in WWE It's so funny It's a fun fact that people don't remember

It's crazy I don't know. I would throw Frankie Gazzarian in that conversation, too. So he had them and said, he, I mean, we're talking about, like, low key was unbelievable. Like, to see this guy. And there's so many Chris Saban, James Storm, Chris Harrison, like, they were a big part of the growth. Think of the moments Eelickr had? Beer money?

Beer money? I mean, he looked Skipper. I'll tell you this story. I remember he walked the cage. And done that. Unbelievable. Never, I've never seen anything like that to that point or ever again. Yeah.

And he was going home the next day. And with Jeff is like, are we going to really send him home? After that? After he did that? And he thought about it, I guess. It was like, so he looks at him staying the next day for TV because it was just so unbelievable. There's so many guys that made such a big difference. I mean, it's hard.

to put them out Rushmore together because everybody has their their moment and how they got there and how much they meant to TNA so the unsung heroes of TNA especially during that era are mike teney and don west oh wow yeah 100 percent one hundred percent like today's it's mike today's it's a legend i mean right like he knew it and don not knowing exactly what to do but learning quickly did a excellent job. I don't care what anybody says. He made it exciting. And I think partly because he was a fan. He was watching

from a fan standpoint, you know, which I thought made it really well done. Some of his calls like, Are you freaking kidding me? It's like, yes, that's exactly how we feel. Yes, yeah. I mean, listen, I have a buddy at home that I bounce stuff up off, you know, like I

have ideas because he's more of a fan and I'm seeing it from a different. And when you have someone like that to kind of bounce stuff up all. It makes sense. You know, like, oh, wow, yeah, that's stupid. Or, no, that'll work. Yeah. You know, so it helps having someone like that. And I think that's what Don West gave TNA. Yeah. Absolutely. Like, when I watch old TNA and I hear their commentary, it's like, they are such an underrated commentary duo. I agree. I agree. Absolutely. 100%. 2016, are you at like a crossroads here? Like, do you have the option to go back to TNA or the option to go

to WWE. So, I think I just burped in my life. Anyway, so a lot of people didn't know this, but,

uh, Samojo and I are very close. Uh, they know that, but they didn't know that I knew that someone may have talked to Shinske Nakamura.

And we're still in New Japan. Joe tells me, uh, Shinska's leaving. I was like, really? Shinske's the number two guy there. By

far. Tanahashi, you know, Shinn. So I was like, I talked to the boys. I go, I think it's time to pack up.

I think, I think we may have peaked if Shinskay's leaving. And then we started, I think T&A kind of hit me up. And I go, well, what about Gallals and Anderson, you know?

And we started talking. We had a meeting with it. They wanted to decide something, you know, I think we may have signed something to say that this is it was no it couldn't hold us to anything. He was just saying that we agreed to pay this much. And and then during that time, Terry Taylor, who I'm close with,

kind of hits me up and just see how I was doing. And I shot him a picture because I was holding my daughter at the time. We just had a little girl. And he's like, what? What is that? And, you know, I was like, yeah, I don't know how I made a little girl either. I have three boys, now a little girl. And we just started talking.

And then a picture of a dude wearing a hat came up on the internet. It looked like me walking around at NXT. It wasn't me. I don't know who was. But something started circulating. And everybody thought it was you. Yeah. So I was like, hey, Terry, is there anything to this?

You know, do they want to see AJ Styles? And WW is this impossible? Because I said, listen, don't let your ego get in the way. I was like, no, no, no, that's not what I'm doing. I'm just saying if there's money to be made, I'd like to make it if it's there. And he goes, well, let me have, let me talk to the Triple H. And he had see if he called and said, you know, I guess he had him and age talking at Triple H can give me call. Went by, you know, Mother, whatever.

Terry calls, he, did you talk the Triple H? No. He goes, what? I'm going to call him again. So I remember being at Ring of Honor. I was in my hotel room and then Triple H calls.

And we had a really good conversation, a 30 minute conversation. It was really good. It sounded great. And I was like, oh. And nothing had happened with TNA at that time. So, I just,

the ball started moving pretty quick. I told him, they said, as me and Triple H were talking, like the next time, I said, well, I know I got these two other guys. Gallos in Anderson. And he goes, I don't know if we're interested in them. I just, I think we're, I'm like, okay, okay, I understand.

But then the next conversation, yeah, we're taking all of you. I was like, perfect. You know, and then TNA gets wind up, you know, some stuff. And they're like, hey, if you don't apologize, you know, I'm like, for what? You know, I ain't telling you nothing. Get out of here, man. Big John again. So, yeah, everything worked out.

And the ball started rolling really quick. And this, I don't know if this story's been told, but when we decided that we are going to WW, me, Gallows and Anderson, we were kind of going over a match in New Japan, in a room, like, and we were, we were like, we're going to tell them together that we're going to do this. And I looked over, and Carl is talking to ghetto, like, you're like, what was he doing? I thought we're going to and it because I saw this oh no you know I got it and so I was like oh no and so we all kind of let the cat out of the bag there and it was just kind of a it was heartbreaking because New Japan was so good to us so good um but in my head I thought maybe we had peaked in that maybe it was time to move on and try something new and go back home and nothing but respect for New Japan and never. anything they were able to provide in the business they did. It was amazing.

No better place that I've been to that, until that point, right? But, you know, changes were made. And within that, I mean, I wrestled the 6th of January. I believe the 5th was Russell Kingdom. I think that's right. Fifth and then maybe the same. So I don't know what it's.

Sixth every year, is it? Is it the 6th or 5th or 6th or something like that? Who knows? five. They'll tell us. Wrestling in Corgan Hall, Kenny Omega, and, you know, the rest of the Bullock Club beat me up. Oddly enough,

maybe it's fifth. Gallow's, I think you're right. I think you're right. Yeah. Giles and Anderson also beat me. I'm like, what are you doing? You know what we're about to do. What are you doing? You know, like, but I, for some reason, Carl couldn't wait to punch me, you know. So, but then I think two months after that, they finally show up in Japan, or in WWE.

But like I said, did we decide whether it's the fifth or six, either way. The first week of January. I came home to Atlanta, the airport. My family came up. We ate at a restaurant. I got back on the plane. I never went home to my house and flew to Pittsburgh to get all the medical stuff done. So from Japan to Pittsburgh, never going home.

And then I think the next week I had a independent show in England. I think it was, I didn't know if I was going to the Rumble. And I believe I said if I get the opportunity, I'm going to kick some tail. And everybody was like, yeah, I'm not going, guys. And sure enough, I was going. I didn't know it. They flew me into Tampa rather than Orlando. So they kind of kept it a secret.

which was really cool. And, yeah, nobody really let it out. We'd said there was a possibility, but nobody expected it. So it was really cool in 2016 to walk out for sure. Did you know if the audience was going to know who you were? Gosh, dude. I'd been in Japan for almost two years. Independent scene.

TNA, which in the grand scheme of things, isn't that big, would they know who I am? I don't know. And it was one of the best moments in my wrestling career to walk out and have them make the noise that they made. Oh, man. That moment, I will never forget because I was so terrified that I wouldn't get anything. And Vince wasn't going to have me out when I, he wasn't going to have me out third. And he said, nobody knew who I was.

And, you know, for me, I thought he's probably right. but everybody else who spoke up for me, who had worked with me previously, maybe in T&A or whatever, they're like, I'm telling you, it's going to work. And man,

did it. It was an amazing moment. I didn't really talk to Vince about what I should do. I just like, I didn't run to the ring. I just walked and enjoyed the moment. You know, I wish I'd have been more pumped about it

rather than just looking at people with a straight face. But it was a very, very cool moment. I was there. Oh, shoot. And we popped for the word phenomenal, because the word phenomenal comes up on the screen, which they actually missed when

you watch it live. Yeah. But everybody there is cheering. Oh, my God. It's AJ. Like, we didn't think it was possible. You know, it was a cool moment, though, is that you, you guys made so much noise. The folks at home were like, what is it?

Yeah. Who is it? You know, so it was kind of cool that it worked out that way. But, yeah, man, that was such an unbelievable moment. Was there a point in your career? where you just didn't think WWE was going to Oh yeah

Oh I just knew I wasn't going to have a rustlemania moment I was never going to have one And I was okay with it I dealt with that Like just because

Someone someone may say that I'm not successful Because I've never went to WWE That's for them But for me I'm successful Because I found a way

To take care of my family And at the end of the day That's what I'm doing If I were If I were It paid anything I probably wouldn't be

wrestling. You know, so the fact that I was able to do something I love and provide for my family, that's successful to me. Yeah. It's almost like your career, you've had two Hall of Fame careers. You were a Hall of Famer for sure in TNA, Hall of Famer for sure now in WWE. And it's, it's amazing because, yes, it's the same guy. It's AJ Styles, but it's kind of two different versions of you, too. 100%. And when you look at that guy, especially when you look at like 2005, AJ, clean cut, short hair. You're in good shape, but you're not in this shape. Well, I mean, it's one of those things that your body's going to change, whether you like it or not. You better figure it out as soon as you can because for some reason you're going to get wider and not in a good way.

You know, like you're not as going to be as slim as trim as you used to be. Like there's different ways of doing differently. Like everything changes as you get older and you have to figure it out because if you don't, it's going to take a toll on you and you're going to hate the way you look. going to go, you're going to get the, what they call the what the hell effect, and you're just going I'll just have a piece of cake. You know, and you know, that's what happens. Yeah, one piece of cake turns into two pieces of cake.

Yes, yes, yes, and you just go down that road. Right. And so I, my buddy, who I've known for 40 years that we played t-ball together, he kept telling me to come and get in his cold plunge. I'm like, I'm not doing that. I don't want to get in the cold lunch. He's like, I'm telling you, it's probably one of the best things you can do. And

one day, I just went over there. worked out with him and it was terrible. Getting in that cold plunge has literally changed my life. I'm a cold plunge guy too. It, like that three minutes, the first time I get in there, I was dying. Three minutes at a cold plunge feels like three hours. If you want time to slow down, getting the cold plunge. Oh, 100%.

100%. But those endorphins you get, when you get out, it's addicting. And that's what happened to me. Now, I will say this. I have a cold plunge. I get in it. If I'm going to work out, I'll get in. Like I'll get in today.

If I work out, I will cold punch before I work out. And I don't ever want to get in. I don't ever want to get in. That's a funny thing, right? Your brain starts playing tricks on you. You know what it's going to feel like. Yeah. You've already done this.

You know it just sucks getting that cold water. But anything worth doing, it's not going to be, you know, easy. It's going to suck. But the benefits are unbelievable. So just suck it up for, I go five minutes. and I think I only have mine. I don't have mine in that. I think I'm at 42 degrees.

That's cold. When you get the 30s, your feet start hurting real bad. I don't like that. So recovery is a big part of what you're doing now then. Yeah, yeah. Sana as well. Yeah, because I was just talking about this today as a couple of my friends have gotten the flu and whatnot. And I've been around them.

I haven't. I think it has a lot to do with the cold plunge. and the sauna. I'm sweating out toxins. I think it has a lot to do with that. I could be wrong. That's in my head that I'm building up the immune system doing the stuff to myself. And maybe I don't have to worry about cold and flu and all that stuff as much.

But when you came back looking this jacked, that's a decision. That's a decision to bulk up. That's a decision to put on size. And that's the crazy thing is everybody thinks I bulked up. I lost weight. I was not any heavier than... I was before. But fasting is a big part of my diet as well.

I had done it three-day fast, just water. And I'd done that like maybe a week before I came. So I was shredded. I literally just got through doing a six-day fast, just water. That sucked too. But again, anything worth doing is hard. All you got to do is sit in that cold plunge. That's all you got to do is sit out.

Yeah, just got to sit. All you got to do in a sauna is just sit there. Such a mental game. All you got to do is not eat and drink water. Like, you know, like these things are easy to do or they should be, but we're addicted to so many different, you know, lifestyles of being easy and nice. We're addicted to being comfortable.

Yes. Yeah. You know what the worst time to get the cold plunge is is when you're comfortable. It's perfect outside. It's perfect inside. Oh, it's great. And then you get the cold plunge, you're like, oh. It's a, it.

But if you can get used to being uncomfortable, it's not that hard to be uncomfortable. Some of the best things in life are hard. And I think they're supposed to be difficult. Yes. You've got to challenge yourself. And that's what I enjoy, challenging myself. What can I do to make this a little bit harder? And, you know, that has weight training, fasting, sauna, cold plunge, all those play a part.

And it's all up here more than anything. If you can get it up here, you can almost do anything. Yeah. So are you lifting different now? I lift different. Yeah, it's not the same. Just the way that I lift and not so much heavy weight. Yeah. But by the time I get into those last sets, I'm really struggling. Right. And that's what you want.

You don't want it to be easy. You don't want to be where you're going to hurt yourself because if you get too, you know, tired in this workout process, you'll end up doing it wrong. Like, so if you can do it perfectly and there, it gets very hard. to the last set, that's when you grow. So it's like to failure every time? Pretty much. Like I want to, by the last two, if I'm doing sets of 10, by the time I get eight, I'm struggling, I'm struggling.

I have to decide, especially if I don't have a spotter, don't want to try for a night because I don't know if I can get it up, you know, and it doesn't take a lot of weight to do that. And you try different ways of working out. I don't know if you've had the blood restriction. Yeah, I mean, look where we're sitting right now. Yes. Yes.

CDP has the power cuffs. Yes. I've worked out with him a bunch with the power cuffs. Makes a difference, doesn't it? And it makes a huge difference, but you're like, I would normally curl like 30s, 35s. He's like, let's pick up 10s. Yes.

You'll see. Yes. Yeah, it makes, I've been doing it for a couple years now. Me and one of the trainers were riding together, and trainers for some reason are all friends we do. It doesn't matter if it's wrestling or football. And we went to the Kansas City Chiefs and working out there, and they showed me those.

And it was surely, I thought, I need them. You know, it's built for injuries, but it doesn't have to be. You can get a good workout with very little weight, and it's unbelievably hard. A lot of people don't know this, but it's unbelievably hard. And a lot less stress on your joints. You're right. And that's what it's for to still get that same pump, but then all that, you know, damage to your joints. So let's go back to the Royal Rumble.

Your debut, the crowd is crazy for it. Did you immediately in that moment impressed Vince McMahon? No. Not at all. It was a fluke. And his, like, ah, I don't know,

I mean, like, I don't, you know what? Now, I'm pretty sure he did, I wasn't at Rawl the next time. But somebody convinced him that it would be a good idea if I came to

raw the next time. You know, like he did not care. A lot of people don't know this. He did not like AJ Stiles. For whatever reason, I'm sure I gave him a lot of reasons. I'm not the tallest guy.

I have. have a southern accent. Like, there's several things that he could hate about AJ Styles. I think that Monday had a match.

I remember. It was in Miami, right? Yeah. Yeah. And the rock showed up that night. He, I had a match and I was trying to give them what I thought he wanted a baby face,

smiling, doing all this stuff. Doing a cool little baby face flip to the outside. I think it was something like that. But he's like, as I came back, he's like, is I got a thousand guys that can do what you do. That's, I got all those guys.

As he said, he needed a, he wanted to see a pit bull. And I was like, oh. And that kind of got me excited. I was like, oh, okay. I know, as I said before, I know that guy. Yeah. That's going to be easy. I didn't tell him that, but I was like, I know that guy.

Let me be that guy. And sure enough, the next week, I think I was on Ms. TV. Several people came up to me and said, lay it in, put it in there. Like, what? What has Ms. done that he's pissed so many people off that they want me to hurt him? And it wasn't just like one higher up guy. It was a couple of them.

And I was like, am I going to beat a Ms? I have no reason to it. I was like, no. I decided I'm not going to hurt him. I'm not going to do that. But it was very intense that moment that we had together. You know, and I think that's what Vince was.

It was a test to see if I was going to be like a pit bull. Like just freaking coming after you, nothing you can do to stop me. I'm getting you. And that's kind of what I gave him. And it was at that moment, which took off. And then from there it was stuff with Jericho, right?

Jericho. And then into Sina? Was it Roman? Was it Roman? You know better than that. Well, it was 2016. Was it? I want to say it may have been Roman.

Jericho, it wasn't Roman. Because I won the right to wrestle Roman by beating Jericho. And it was a four-way match. And Jericho, I think I beat him to get that opportunity to wrestle Roman, number one contender. So Jericho, Roman, Sina. beat up John Sina. You know, we tried to get a shirt made, and Vince was like, absolutely not.

I'm like, why? A lot of people would have bought it. Yeah. So, yeah. We tried to get the shirt out there. Nobody, he said absolutely. I thought it was going to be good. Is there a chance to wrestle Sina on his retirement tour?

I don't know. I don't make those decisions. That'd be great to see. I would love to have it for sure. It'd be fun. Honestly, I think that. There's something about the, you know, I can't explain it. Why him and I, Jill, so well together, I don't know what it is,

because we're definitely not the same in any kind of way. We just, it just works. You know, say, for the first time I got in the ring with him, it was like, wow, dude, that was cool. So, yeah, I would love the opportunity to work with seeing again. I was blown away that you've never worked CM Punk one-on-one in a televised match in WWA. Nope.

Nope. Just, just ring of honor, actually. Yeah. So hopefully one day that'll come before we both retire. That'd be great to say. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. I think that's something that definitely could happen. Will it happen?

I'm not sure, but it definitely should. I like that. Is there anything you haven't done in WWV? Yeah, no. I've never, well, I mean, there's things I haven't, like I've never won the Rumble, money of the bank, I'm never one of any of those.

So there's some stuff out there, but, you know, it's not the end of the world if I haven't. I don't see it that way. I don't have to win stuff. I just have to, I just want to be, you know, a guy, like one of the guys, I would love to work AJ. Why?

Because he's easy. You know, I want to be that guy, or he's very giving. Like, I want to make sure that guy looks good too. Because there's not, if it's not a match where both of us are looking good, you're being weird of your character. years, then what's the point? So I want to make sure that everybody looks good in the match. If the match is good, people appreciate the match more than they, they don't even probably know

who wins or loses. It's not important. It's the match and the moments that you make within them. I think the greatest compliment is you've never had a bad match. Well, it's not true. I've been there. I remember the first time I wrestled Amazing Red at the Super 8, and I didn't know who it was. And if you don't know who Red is, and you don't know how take his moves, it's going to be lousy. And it was terrible. But after that, I knew Amazing Redd very well. We had amazing matches after that.

But yeah, there was that time when I was like really ashamed of myself. There was one time, 20-something years ago. I've had other bad matches. Don't get me wrong. That was, I'll never forget myself for that one. No, I don't know. You're one of those guys that when your name is on the card, it doesn't matter who it's you versus.

It's like, all right, that's going to be great. Oh, I've had, I think we've had. some matchups at the past where you thought nah, it's going to, I don't know

about this one, a perfect example. No one thought that me and Shane McMahon were going to have a good match. WrestleMania 33.

Yes. And I thought we did a very good job of making that very entertaining. Had some moments in there that are really cool.

I had the opportunity to work Shane McMahon and awesome guy. Freaking love him. No one is more dedicated to perfection than Shane McMahon.

Ask the Undertaker. He'll tell you. And I respect the heck out of that. You know, and the stuff that he does, like he's still shooting, doing a shooting star press. Are you kidding me? He beats himself up. Man, so much respect for Shane. I freaking love him.

That was a great match. Was it difficult because you know Shane's not going to say no to anything? Oh, man. And he wants to have a WrestleMania moment. So is he just pitching you like crazy stuff all the time? And, well, it wasn't that he was pitching it. He just wanted to perfect it. Whatever we were doing, he wanted to make sure it was spot on every time.

And you've got to respect that. I mean, that's what I want. And then it would be able to bounce some stuff off of him that, you know, the guy could fight for real. You know, so he was able to put a little bit of that stuff that he knew, a little bit of Jiu-Jitsu that he's taken and, you know, and make it work. It was really a fun match, man. Really unexpected, I think, for fans to see us have such a good match together. This episode is brought to you by Timeline. Have you tried all the health trends, but you're still feeling tired, foggy, or off your game?

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based on studies of topical and oral monoxideone fanasteride. Featured products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve. or verify for safety, effective, miss, or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. You're so right that wrestling's about the moments. What's your WrestleMania moment?

That's a tough one. Are we talking about mine or a moment in wrestling that... The one that you've been involved in. Well, I think it may have been the Shane McMahon match because I'm working Shane McMahon. Who would have thought that AJ Styles would be working Shane McMahon? you know, in a match, I believe it was the first match of WrestleMania, which was perfect. And to have such a great match and so much fun and be able to get to know a guy, man, that was a really, really awesome. I mean, don't be wrong, walking out in front of what, 101,000 people, your first WrestleMania, is it so shabby?

Yeah. But I guess one of the most proud of matches that is probably with Shane because it was so good, I thought, and entertaining. What do you think your match at 36 would have looked like if the world wasn't shut down and you weren't able to do a cinematic match with your match? Would you have had a traditional match with Undertaker? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And I thought it, I think it would have been really good because just doing that cinematic match that we had, we didn't go over. these this match or whatever we were doing like we didn't go step by step we just kind of did it and we never had to do it twice so you're just setting up the cameras like i'll do this and this

and we'll move on in the next spot yeah yeah that really was and it just we didn't have to do a second take so for us to have that kind of chemistry what would it have been like if it were in the ring you know so it was fun i think that it happened the way it was supposed to You know, he got the match that he thought really stuck out and it did. Yeah. That's another, that's another match, man. Like, that's a WrestleMania moment, you know, the more I think about it. Like, because not everybody likes it cinematic matches, you know, usually they don't do too well.

And that one was done really well. Oh, it's, it's the pinnacle, right? That is, that is the bar that all other cinematic matches are now measured against. Yeah, I mean, it was, it was so much. much fun and the meme of the decade you know so like that one that one meant a lot to me too man uh you know i'll tell you the one the coolest things is uh i was like man what do i what do i give this guy as a gift to say to say thank you um and did you know that was his last match i didn't know if it was last match but um i thought it could be and that that

that I would have the opportunity to have his last match. And I wanted to give him something. So I ended up signing my gloves that we wrestled and given them to him. Actually, I asked Michelle, I was like, I want to give him something to say thank you. He's like, give him your gloves. Sign your gloves and give him to him. Okay. All right.

I can do that. That's easy. Well, a couple of weeks after that, he had given me his gloves. So I have the Undertakers. gloves that he wrestled in his last match. And I think that's pretty freaking cool. Yeah. So the opportunity, if we could have done that in the ring,

what could it have been? I don't know. But I'm sure it wouldn't have been. Maybe it wouldn't have. Maybe it wouldn't have. But, you know, it's still pretty cool to be able to have that cinematic agreement. I was so jealous of other guys who've had those matches and I didn't with The Undertaker. A guy who's only on the Mount Rushmore.

of wrestling. No doubt. I don't care. He's got to be. Um, so to have that match with him was pretty amazing. Yeah. It was, that was like, that WrestleMania was strange, right? Because the world had just shut down a few weeks before and they had to make this work. That match made it all worthwhile. Yeah. Well, it's just a weird time, right? Because she's like, everybody's dying, you know, what's going on? How do we, you know, come back from something like this. It was a scary time. But hopefully, you know, for however many minutes that cinematic match was, we got your mind off that.

You can enjoy wrestling, you know, I think I'm very proud of it. When you talk about The Undertaker being done and you're his last opponent, do you think about how much longer you can do this? Oh, man. I've thought about it a lot to way much more than I should have. I should have been, I should have known what I was doing by now, but like, it's, it's so hard because you enjoy it so much. And I enjoy being around my friends. I don't get me wrong, I love being at home, but at the opportunity to see them and see them doing well and seeing them smile and, like, seeing them grow.

Like, some of these guys, like, Roman, for instance, like, man, his selling is on a different level. He's like changed. Jay Uso, Jimmy Uso, all these guys, they stepped up. You know, however, if Roman stepped up, they stepped up with him. I just thought that was so impressive that they do that. And seeing them grow into these amazing, big superstar, Gunther, you know, losing all that weight to get to where he's at, now the heavyweight champion.

It's freaking awesome, right? Cody, just seeing where he's at and what he had to go. through to get to where he was at. And what he's doing now is at that position. Like he's the guy. He puts the work in. Like, it's, it's really cool to see those guys hustle as much as they are and, you know,

beat themselves up as much as they have and still doing well. I like seeing that, man. So you don't want to be away from that. No, I like seeing that. I want to, I like, I take, I don't know, um, what's the word I'm looking for? it's just really cool to see people do really well. And I'd rather,

I think I'd rather see them do well more than myself. You know, I want to see you guys. Oh, man. Dominic Mysterio, so freaking good to see where he was, to see where he is now, easily,

easily, in my opinion, top heel. Like, you can't get heat like he can. But to see where he was when he first came, that's freaking cool. And I like seeing that. That's what I'm going to miss when it's over,

right? Just seeing people do really, and find a way to get to the top. Do you want to wrestle under your 50s? No. No, I don't. No. Do you want to have a match at 50?

No. So you're saying there's only a few more years left then. That's correct. I keep saying that for, you know, I've said this and said this, but I will not wrestle to 50. I promise you that. And it's going to clip this and hold you to it. Yeah, like, there he is.

He said 50. He's Rick Flair and us. He's a liar. 49 and 364 days. Yeah. Well, you know, it's like, Sean, you know, he was done until it wasn't, you know, and sometimes money talks. But you haven't lost a step. That's the thing.

I think I hide it. You look better than ever. I think I hide it very well. Well, that, I mean, that's because you know your strength and your weaknesses. Very much, yes. So, you know, things aren't as easy to use to be. You know, the first thing that you lose as you get older is your stamina, right? That's the first thing to go. You still got that power by the stamina. So I really try to make sure that I find, you know, I feel find ways knowing where I'm at in my match if I'm going to do something crazy that I have enough energy to do it. I don't want to be tired trying to do a 450 or something like that. So I make sure things are at the right place at the right time so I can do it as perfect as I can.

When you came back recently, you came back with your old theme song. Was that your call? Yeah. It was my call to change it too. Because as a bad guy, I thought my song was a little too cool. Everybody loves that song. I love the song. But that's not who I was trying to be. I wanted you to not like me, that you despised me. And I thought, well, if I change the song, got people are going to hate it. Perfect. Right. If they do, perfect. And then when I know it's coming back and I'm going to be the good guy again, I want my old music back. And nobody who said anything, they're like, yep, that's fine. So, yeah, that was my decision. You've had a lot of cool theme songs over your career. Yes. Oh, yeah.

A lot of bad ones, too. You know, if you watch the first T&A show, oh, man, it's terrible. I can't even remember what it's like, but I was so embarrassed walking out to it. So you'll have to go back and listen to that. That is terrible. Get ready to fly is my favorite. Oh, man. Listen, grits, the guys that done that song for me, awesome guys.

I can't, I don't want to hear that song ever again. What are you talking about? My sons love it. They're like, Dad, you came back because TNA's working with WWW. They came back to get radio, if I'm not coming out with that song, guys. I'm just not doing it. Not because I hate it. I just, I'd listen to it for so long.

I don't want to come out to it anymore. So, unless somebody sneaks it in on me, I'm not walking out of that song. There's a partnership now with WWE and TNA. You are the name at the top of the list of people that they want to see back in TNA. You think it'll happen? I don't know. I'd like it to. I think it'd be fun to do something like that. Like a one-off, I would definitely do it. You'd have to be your old TNA theme song. Oh, God. It would, wouldn't it? It would have to be. It would have it. It would.

You know they played that theme song, what was that, four or five years ago, when Swagel came out dressed his year? The one nominal man. We nominal man. The we nominal one. That's what it was. Oh, yeah. Galas and Edgson is what I tell me about it. Do you know how many hardcore TNA fans, myself included? We're going, No, AJ's here? And then Swagel comes down. Oh, he's clearly not here. We nominal one, which is pretty hilarious. But seeing you in TNA in 2025 would be amazing.

So I went up and visited as they were in Atlanta, maybe a month or two go. Frankie Kazerwin is there, so I was able to hang out with him. But there was so many other people there that I was like, oh, my gosh, oh, wow. You know, Gil Kim, Chrisahemi, like, those are my. my guys. But Eric Young also there. But it was really cool to see, I thought it looked really good. I think they did a really good job.

And I know they don't have a lot of money to work with, but for what they had, I thought it looked really good. And I was like, man, these guys are really doing something. So it's exciting to see. And I hope that we continue to work with TNA, WWV, and help them as much as they're helping us because, you know, NXT talent being shown on TNA and vice versa. so it's good for everybody. So it just feels like we're in such a different era of wrestling.

Like if you went into a coma five years ago and you woke up and I showed you a photo of the TNA champion who had just been in the Royal Rumble standing getting pointed to by Triple H, you'd never believe. Oh man. How could you know? Like, because we were all conditioned to believe that nothing other than WWE existed. If you were in WWE, nothing existed. That's the thing is that Vince had no idea who I was.

No clue. So that's true. True. That's a real thing. Yeah. He had no idea. He had never watched an AJ Styles match. Never. I promise you. He's never watched any matches outside of WWE.

Because nothing else existed except for WW. I'm sure, you know, when he was first trying to start WWF and get everybody he wanted, I'm sure then maybe he saw matches. But once he's rolling and it's WWE, I guarantee you he watched nothing else. But it feels like Triple H watches everything. Yeah, I think he had a better idea of who guys were and girls. you know and bringing them in I think but that's what we need you you have to you know I don't know well it's like evolve and and and a lot of people think oh he's just picking and choosing what he wants but if you're a TNA or something smaller and someone has the opportunity to go to the WDB how many

people are going to want to work for TNA to maybe get an opportunity and that's just helping T&A get you know bigger stars and whatnot maybe get more money in the life long run. It just helps everybody. People are going to go where there's an opportunity to better their lives. I left New Japan, which I thought so much of. I really loved that place because, you know, I was coming home and the opportunity to make more money, you know, was there. People were going to do that. You're not going to stop unless you're able to offer them somewhat closer to that money or something. So I think it just benefits everybody to,

even with TNA, Noah, being able to work with him. Omos was just in Noah. And he's going to learn over there, and he's going to bring that back to WWE. Yeah. And it's going to work well for him,

you know, in WWE, the things that he did in Noah. You learn different styles. Yeah. It's good. If you're only going to wrestle until 49, and we're all holding you to that now,

what does life after wrestling look like? So the time that I was not hurt, but at home, getting up and walking in the morning, you know, getting my couple miles in, who knew you could burn 700 calories walking? I didn't. You know, going to the breakfast in the morning, which is nice with your wife, spending time with your kids, going to a baseball game that they're playing in, the wrestling matches, and stuff like that. or nothing at all. Maybe it's just going and spending time together. I'm not afraid of retirement. I think it's going to be great once I get there and I'm able to go,

I did it. You know, but for me, it's doing it correctly, the retirement, doing it correctly, something that I'm confident like, that was it.

That was the one. I hope that's what the Undertaker felt. You know, like that was the one. So it's a match. You're thinking it's going to be a final match. It's a, It's a final match, but it's the story that led up to it, I think.

I hope. You have an opponent in mind? Nope. No opponent in mind. An idea that I will not share with you that I thought if I could get Undertaker, get in the ring with me that I wanted to do. But there's an idea there that I think kind of sums up who A.J. Stiles is. We'll see if it happens.

You'll know it if it does. But we'll have to wait and see. It just has to be so interesting because you've known yourself as a wrestler for the majority of your adult life. And there's going to be a time pretty soon when you're going to see yourself as a retired wrestler, a former wrestler. You okay with that? Yeah. I'm okay with that. I'll tell you the reason why I hope to have a good storyline that leads up to the retirement.

so that NXT, you know, the folks down there, oh yeah, that was, they were so invested in the story, they know who AJ Styles was

so that that will respect what I'm trying to tell them to help them get better so that I could share this information that I've learned throughout my years, not to hoard it to myself, but to give it to you. And so that you respect me enough

to use it and know it, it could work for you if you just use it. Like I'm offering all this information for you to get better because I don't need it anymore. Yeah. But if you don't have respect, they may not listen to you.

You have a lot more time to play video games. That's true. I just got to find some video games that are out there that I'm... You have every video game. But I find myself playing retro games. I like what? Some street fighters, you know, just old street fighters. Street Fighter's my favorite.

Yeah, I don't like the juggling. I don't like the teckin and the juggling and the combos. I don't want that. Just give me the old school stuff. Some old games and consoles that, you know, I never got to play as a kid. let me see if I can beat this game on TurboGraphic 16. Wow. Stuff like that.

Deep cut. Yeah. Deep cut. So that's what I'm interested in. I find myself playing those games and enjoying them more than it. Who do you play as when you play Street Fighter? Ken. I can answer that pretty quick.

But Ken and Ryu have the same moveset. Well, I mean, the Dragon Punch is more kin in the show you can is Ryu, right? I just Chun Lee with the kick, the cheap kick. Oh, yeah. Everybody does that. Everybody does it. But that's the thing. Video games, I think, have slowed down to get, because it takes so long to make them.

Yes. And it takes so long to learn them. We got AJ Styles on the show before GTA6. Listen, I've never been a GTA guy because I just don't think that I can play that game and my kids walk down and see what's going on. Sure. You know, there's a lot of things. But I'm interested in this next one coming out, bigger and better than any of them have ever been, right? I'm interested

And I may have to pick it up And just jump on that bandwagon And play just like everybody else But just not let your kids see Because you know That's probably not a Well they're older now So

You know I think it might be all right I might I don't I don't know Yeah who knows But I have my own little area At this point where I can just shut the door

And like And to the point where My daughter Who's 10 now She's sneaky So I'm got my headphones on and I'm playing a game and I hear I don't hear anything it's gosh geez stop doing it and so I put some lights in there

so it's like oh so you can see shadows no they'll come on there's motion motion sensor and so when the she comes on it comes on I'm like ah so yeah are you talking trash to people when you're playing no not at all not I don't I don't I don't I talk trash at all I don't I usually just play by myself at this point I'm playing PubG or something like that, you know, a game that took forever for me to learn how to play. Now I don't want to stop playing it because it's the only game I know how to play. Yeah, that's where I'm at.

What's a move you do in the ring that doesn't look like it hurts, but it hurts? A move that I do in the ring. Huh. That's a good question because I'd like to think none of them hurt. Okay. Or maybe you're like, didn't land that quite right. I remember I apologize to Kofi the first time I did the Springboard 450. I was like, man, I think I came down you a little hard on that.

I apologize. And he's like, oh, that was fine because Kofi's awesome. But I thought it was a little tight. So, but I tried to over rotate a little bit forward a little bit on my 450 so that I can just roll off of you. So I'm not murdering you with it. So that's my thing. But, you know, there's always going to be mistakes. So you're just hurting yourself.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you try to take care of them some, you know, if you try to take care of someone so much, You'll end up hurting yourself. That always happens. So you've got to have a happy medium to do that. I feel like everything you do is very seamless. I wanted to ask Dominic, like, am I rough, dude?

I'm snug. I will say that. I don't like there to be any space into what I'm doing. I want you to think that I'm pissed off. So it may be a little snug depending where we are. It'll be more snug. If we're outside and we're by the fans, it's coming. So for the longest time when I was wrestling John, I was murdering him with forearms.

Because that's the way he threw them in Japan because they don't make any noise. You can't hear them. Loved it. You can't hear anything in WWE, all these fans making all the noise. And I'm murdering John. And then one day I was talking about it. I was like, yeah, then I realized nobody could hear me hitting John. So I stopped hitting him so hard.

He goes, yeah. Oh. He finally said something. So he, you know, that was the only time he said something. He never said, don't hit me hard anymore. Don't do it. He never said a word. And I was, they were in there.

I promise you. So, yeah, I wonder, I wonder sometimes how snug I am. This is full circle for me. So I want to say thank you for allowing this to happen and making the time to do this. I met you at that show that I showed you in Toronto. Yeah. And I paid $5 Canadian to get a photo with you in the ring. What show?

Was it a T&A show? It was B.S.C. blood sweat and ears. You worked Eric Young. The main event. And it was $5 to get in the ring. And I took this photo with you. And it's a very 2007 photo. I think it was 2007.

And it's a very 2007 photo. Like you've got the short hair and you're clean shaven. I've got this ridiculous pucashell necklace. Oh, yeah. We all had them. Yeah. We all are pretty ridiculous. Now, how old were you?

I was 24. Okay. All right. So you would have been like 30? Right? I don't know. Born in 77. 77. Yes, you would have been 30. Wow. But it would, like, I bought a ticket to that show because you were on the car. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. Oh, man. It's, it's a crazy world, man, to see how both we've come, both of us. You know, who is the, I know, this isn't, maybe I'm not supposed to be asking you questions, but here I guess. And say with JJ's style. Oh, no. When was your first interview like this and who was it with? So I started my TV career in 2005, but I was a news reporter. So you're doing local news stories.

And I was in a small town. I was in Peterborough, Ontario. Bobby Roots hometown, actually. Oh, okay. I was a news reporter on Czechs TV there. So you're interviewing people about like the local news. Then I got an entertainment show a year and a half later on MTV to Canada. Oh, shoot.

That's big. It was big. I moved to Vancouver for that. Bobby Lashy was my first wrestling interview. But we only air a few minutes of it on TV, but I was still such a wrestling nerd that I wanted to like ask him all the questions I want to ask. So we did a 15 or so minute interview. We only aired two or three minutes. That was probably the first real big one. Then after that, it's a lot of actors and comedians. And every once in a while, WWE or TNA would come to town and we get to do an

interview. Hey, ticket start at $20. Go see the show tonight. And I'd be like, yeah, but tell me about Summer Slam, 1998 or whatever. And I would like try to work that question in. Oh, yeah. The thing about most, I would think most wrestlers is like, oh, this. God knows what he's talking about. And we kind of talk about because we're fans too. Sure. And then we just have this great conversation about wrestling. And the next thing you know, it's a 30-minute conversation that was only supposed to speak 15 minutes.

I remember Jeff Hardy coming to the TV station. I was working in Cleveland at the time. I was at the CBS affiliate. And he came in. It was just a quick interview to promote TNA. And I was like, hey, I want to tell you that TLC2 was amazing. He was like, oh, really? And like, you're speaking my language now.

Like, I'm so used to people just being like, and we've got that. Jeff Harvey here. You know what I mean? It's so true. It's so true. Tell us about the Chamber of Elimination. What is this thing? It happened to so many times where, you know, we go to a radio station. That very same thing happens. You're like, well, and we have our ideas that we're going to do. You're talking points. We just put it out there. It's not really an interview. It just, I thought for sure at one point in time I would get you because I was doing a lot of stuff with TNA. And I got Jared and I got Eric Young and I got Mick Foley and I got Jeff Hardy.

But you just weren't doing the press tour when I was when it was in Cleveland. All right. I got one more. Who do you think? Don't. You can't say it can't be a wrestler. But the biggest star you've edited. I guess Batista is up there, right?

The biggest star that you've ever interviewed. Would you say, is it Batista? Rock. It means. bigger. Yeah, but he's a wrestler. Yeah, but is that your way in? Is because they're wrestlers?

So I've interviewed Rock 10 times, not that I'm counting. Yeah. But they've always been for, except for one time, they've always been for movies. So I've interviewed him for Jumanji and for Moana and for Rampage, Fast and Furies, all of these movies. And one time I got him at Raw. But I think the biggest movie star, I've interviewed is Tom Cruise.

Whoa. Yeah. When was that? Mission Impossible 6. So 2018. Dude, that's... It was at the world premiere. It was in Paris.

The Eiffel Tower is behind us. Yeah, it was crazy. Were you intimidated? Like, holy, it's Tom Cruise. I know he's only five, six, but... He was wearing something in his shoes, I think. Oh, yeah? Because we're the same height in the photo.

I'm like, shut up. What? I know that's true. What's intimidating. Intimidating is you're on a red carpet. So I was probably 20 reporters deep in the red carpet. You know how a red carpet works. You start at this person, then on to the next, on the next.

So what's intimidating is you see him slowly making his way towards you. Right? Yeah. He's five people away. All right. So that's like two minutes each. So 10 minutes away. Okay.

Now he's four people away. All right. Okay. Now he's three people. So what's intimidating is just like the anticipation of like, he's eventually going to walk up here. Then it's our moment. Go time.

but he is so present. He looks you right in the eye when he's talking. There's screaming fans everywhere. There's all these other reporters. He's having a conversation with just you. And the only thing that exists is this moment. And there's something about that that is unforgettable. Because not everybody does that,

especially in this day and age of phones buzzing in your pocket and all the other things happening in the outside world. He's right here. and that was pretty crazy. So, yeah, I'm going to take that, put that in my pocket, and make sure that I do that. When I'm doing an interviewer, talking to someone, make sure that it's us.

So I just learned something. So I want to make sure I do that, but I want to make sure that I do that. What's really special about, like, this format is we've talked now for over an hour and a half. Oh, really? She's crazy, right? I said we were going to talk for an hour.

Yeah. You're like, that's it. But there's very rare instances. where you're going to sit and just look at somebody in the eye and talk to them for an hour and a half and not go, oh, my wife's texting me or, oh, the kid's doing something. Yeah, yeah, I'm with you, man. And that's what I love about this format. It's like a conversation where you're like, you were so present and you're so dedicated

to this moment. Yeah. So to bring it all the way back around, I want to say thank you. Man, this has been awesome. I would have paid $5 Canadian. Oh, ooh, big spender. I will wrap this up with a question that I ask everybody at the end. gratitude such an important part of my life.

I wake up every day. I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. Do it before I go to bed as well because I think it's such a good way to just center on the things you have rather than focusing on the things you don't have. Sure. So, AJ, what are three things that you're grateful for right now? I am, as a believer, I am grateful for the relationship that I have with my Heavenly Father. And I got to remember who I'm talking to when I pray.

and be thankful for the things that I've been blessed with, things that I don't deserve, things that I shouldn't have, because I know me. I see myself. When I look in the mirror, I don't see a good person. But despite of me being this guy who makes mistakes every day,

you know, my Heavenly Father loves me for who I am and see something in me that I don't. And so for me to be, you know, I can be better every day than I was yesterday. So that's what I'm grateful for that I have the opportunity to do that and take care of my family when I have one of the best jobs on the planet. I'm grateful for so many things, man, that we take for granted. And, you know, and for the little things that not many people think of, you know. I'm just, I'm just, like you, I'm grateful for so many things.

And I know you're more than grateful for three things, but you got to make sure these are the ones. And I get that for sure. Yeah. And they're different things every day. Yeah, right? Everything changes. Like you don't realize, man, I'm so thankful that the grass is growing in the yard.

You're where I'm so grateful my car starts when I turn the key. We have a car. Yeah. Yes. You know, that there's so many beautiful things on this earth that we take for granted. I'm grateful my kids are healthy. Yes, yes. That, you know, you get to be in their lives.

I'm grateful I get to be a father. Freak, yes. I mean, I am thankful that I have a daughter who lets me know that no matter what I do, I'm still her dad and she still loves me because I am. That's it. I don't, with my boys a little bit different. You know, they may be like, hey, dad, love you, man. man, what is it?

What'd you do? You know, when my daughter would tell me, she loves me just because she does. And you can't beat that, man. The kids, you know, I have a,

I'm, it's one of those things where you love them so much that you want the world to know. So you get a tattoo on your side with their days and their birthdays, you know, and they'll probably, as they get older,

what a stupid tattoo dad. That's really, It looks, you are so old and wrinkly and that's on you. You know, but there's so many things, like you said, to be grateful for. And I'm grateful for so many things. But first and foremost, I'm a heavily father, man, that I have a good relationship with him. You know, that's, and that leads to all these things that he's provided for, for me, things that, I mean, right place, right time, right person watching. Like, how many times does that got to happen?

So I am blessed, dude. I think we're blessed. I totally believe that. Wow, man. This was great. Yeah, it was freaking awesome. Thank you so much. I appreciate you, man. Yeah, man. Thanks for having me.

Oh, my pleasure. Let's do it again one day. I bet you will. Thank you, man. I'm going to make you. Hell yeah. I'm like, all right. Those do our interview. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary.

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