Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AJ Styles On Retirement, Gunther, Hall Of Fame, John Cena, One More Match?

Episode Date: July 21, 2026

AJ Styles (@ajstylesp1) is a retired professional wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Nashville, TN to discuss his retirement match with Gunther at the Royal Rumble, why he didn't wait until WrestleMania, if there were ever plans for a retirement tour, his phenomenal match with John Cena in Australia, being inducted into the Hall of Fame, his son Avery Styles following in his footsteps, if he really is done with wrestling, and more! Please support our sponsors: HELIX SLEEP: Flash sale! Go to https://helixsleep.com/cvv for 27% off sitewide! COZY EARTH: Go to https://cozyearth.com/CVV for up to 20% off! BEAM: Go to https://shopbeam.com/INSIGHT and use code INSIGHT for up to 40% off Beam’s Dream Powder DELETEME: Use the code INSIGHT to get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at https://joindeleteme.com/INSIGHT FACTOR: Get 50% off your first box, plus Free Breakfast for 1 Year with the code INSIGHT50OFF at https://factormeals.com/INSIGHT50OFF 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/cvv SEAT GEEK: Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV 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! PRIZEPICKS: Download the PrizePicks app today and use code INSIGHT to get $50 bonus credit in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://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! AJ Styles, great to see you again. Yeah, man, good to be back. Thank you for making this happen here. It's an easy drive for me to Nashville, so I've kind of hit this road a couple times in my career, so it's an easy fine for me. When you said you were going to start training,

or you were going to come out to see Rusev's school, I was like, this is perfect. We've got to make this out. Yeah, I had no idea that you'd move to Nashville. I just moved here. And you're loving it? It's been the best. Really?

My kids love it so much. Oh, good. Yeah. Then that's everything. They have so much space to run around. This feels a lot like where my wife grew up. So, like, we're a lot closer to home, so, yeah, we couldn't be happier. Where did your wife grow up there?

She grew up in New Jersey, like, Sussex County, like northern New Jersey. Okay. So, like, this feels very similar. When people hear New Jersey or New York, they're not familiar with the fact that there's trees and stuff like that. I know. They think of just like the interstates, like, right there around, like, Newark or something. Yes, exactly.

And I grew up just outside of Toronto. So like this feels like half an hour or like an hour away where we'd go to like cottages or something like that. We're loving life here. Awesome. You're lucky to be one of those people who like grew up in your hometown. You still live there. Well, yeah. I mean, that's where my family is. And I can't imagine, you know, especially when we had four kids moving. There was a there was a time where my wife and I talked about moving to Orlando. And then that's when all the hurricanes came through. So you'll know how far back that was. It was like, maybe 0, 504. I'm not sure. But, and we were like, we'll just stay here. And that was because TNA was based there? Yes, exactly. And so I didn't have to fly every week to go to TNA.

I could just, well, we lived there. But it was a blessing in disguise because we needed our family, you know, with just having more kids. You know, we needed that help. You're a family of six. It's really cool. Having a big family.

It really is. And where everybody gets together and we go on vacations together. Like, this is our family thing. We get away. We get to the beach. and hang out and, you know, it's fun. So how's retirement treating you? Oh, wow.

You know, it's funny because I think I'm gone a little bit more than I was when I was actually working. Really? Yeah, I don't know how that works, but getting the chance to go down to the performance center and work with those men and women down there. It's pretty awesome. It scratches that itch, you know, and being involved with Evolve is awesome. I produced a couple matches, which I didn't think I'd enjoy, but I love it, you know.

and I've heard this is how it all starts, is that, yeah, you start producing. The next thing you know, you're heavily involved with certain kind of things. But it's really cool to see working with the young talent and the light bulb going off and like, oh, oh, wow. And I'm trying to give my moves away. Like, hey, try this, try this, try this.

I'm not going to use it anymore, you know, kind of thing. I'm having fun. How long had you been thinking about hanging them up and retiring? Well, I was going to retire before the Royal Rumble at WrestleMania, the previous. But I'd just come back from my foot injury and just didn't seem right. Like I was feeling kind of good, actually, once I got my foot back in order. I was like, man, and there was some kind of like, man, I don't know, I don't know. And I'm sure money was, I think, because I didn't ask for more money.

I just wanted to extend it. but then again they they did right by me and you know paying me well and so I know that was an issue but then we finally got that in order

and I was like all right here we go and I'm not saying I didn't get weird near the end of knowing I was going to retire or leave WWWE I got weird dude in one way I just was questioning everything like everything I was questioning like a normal saying AJ Styles would not question this

it would just be what it is you know and even the moment where I found out Gunther was in the Royal Rumble and I think that it already been explained that he was in the Royal Rumble and that I got this match but you know I was like what the freak and I probably made I think I made Triple H. Phil awful about oh man I didn't even think about that when reality is nobody thought about that

nobody did nobody cared even when Gunther came out at the Royal Rumble and got beat you know in fact it should have made more sense that he got beat because he was in the ring with AJ Stiles. He got exhausted in that match. Of course he's not going to win the Royal Rumble. And so I just got weird, man. So my apologies to everyone who I acted that way and I was just in a weird state of mind. When you say you're questioning things, are you questioning whether it was the right decision to retire? Well, there was that going on. I mean, it's this is what I do? Like, there were rumors of things. I never

really talk to anybody from anywhere else. It just, it was there. It's difficult because this is all I've ever known as far as, like, I've invested my life into this career. And I think the only way you get to this point where you've reached the heights is you have to be obsessed with it, And I was. And so I dedicated nothing else as far as work goes, but to pro wrestling. Sure. So I didn't know anything. I can't fix anything.

Like, I'm the worst. In fact, I end up breaking stuff. So it's just when that's all you know and you don't know what else to do and what is life after, it's very confusing and emotional. it's a lot of different things that I really can't put my finger on, but I know you get weird. Scrolling with Haley. I'm Haley Karene. I scroll with the homies here in the live chat because there's a lot to scroll through on X, on Instagram, on TikTok.

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Follow and listen on your favorite platform. So when we sat down a little over a year ago, you said you would not wrestle into your 50s. So you were already starting to think about retirement. How did you know it was time to end? They're... Because you don't look like you slowed down at all. Well, it's the thought of me not being able to be AJ Stiles. To throw that 450 in against Gunther,

one last time to say, I can still do this. I just don't have to anymore. You know, was me saying, you know, all right, I am older, but I can still go, but that's not the reason to stay in it. You know, at some point, you will embarrass yourself. If you stay in it long enough, you will embarrass yourself because people will say, wow, that's not the AJ styles I used to know. Man, that's really bad.

And I preface this by saying a lot of people go, well, slowed down, you know, he did. He wasn't doing what he was doing a teen. Wrong. I just actually learned psychology, you know, and I'm not saying that I was a dufus in TNA, but when psychology comes into play, matches are a lot better with doing less.

You know, so it's just, man, I'm thankful for the career I've had, and at that point, at 48 years old, I made the right decision. Do you miss it? I don't miss it. falling down. I don't miss getting, you know, hurt. I don't miss any of that, but there's,

you're always going to miss that part of the excitement that you're about to go to the ring and have a great match. Like, you're going to miss that. That's just the high you don't get from anything else. But again, I get to go down the performance center and scratch that itch and just throw myself into helping these performers down at the PC get better. And, you know, I'm sure we'll talk about this, and I get to pour into my son as well. I think when you said that you were going to have your final match in 2026, nobody expected it to be in January of 2026. Why not push it to WrestleMania?

Why not have your last match at WrestleMania this year? That wasn't my pay-per-view or PLE. That's not where I started for me to be able to debut and then end it at the Royal Rumble. And I don't care that it was in Saudi Arabia. It's still the Royal Rumble. that meant something to me. That was saying that, you know,

I know there's people who have WrestleMania as their big, that's their big PLE, but mine was the Royal Rumble. And it's like this perfect decade, right? Ten years, exactly. Yep. Royal Rumble to Royal Rumble. Yeah, I mean, it just seemed like it was made to be that way.

Like, 10 years, like, I did it, you know, probably wasn't supposed to go that long, you know, but found a way to get there. I think it was a good ending. How did you get to Gumpther being your final opponent? That wasn't up to me. It was up to the story. And he had retired Goldberg.

He had retired John Sina. Why not retire AJ Siles? How much thought did you put into what that finish would look like? Because a month earlier, John Sina went out the same way, but John Sina tapped. You get the sleeper hole put on you. You pass out. Yeah, but I think the whole thing with our match was that I made him tap out. but you weren't going to make me tap out kind of deal.

And I didn't. It went out on my shield. And, you know, I almost had the ropes. But there was the moment there that AJ Stiles couldn't hold out any longer. His body had given up on him. His air supply was gone. Passes out. So take me to before you're about to go out to that match, your final match, the Royal Rumble against Gunther.

What's going on behind the curtain? Thinking about having a great match with Gunther. Not thinking about what was going to happen after it was over, but I'm in the moment. I'm thinking about everything that I need to do when I get out there to make sure it's a great match. That's all I was thinking about. How about when you came through the curtain after the match? There was a, it got emotional because, you know, when I went back in guerrilla, it seemed like most of our roster was there waiting on me.

Abyss pulls me in like a big brother the way he pulled me in and everybody's just kind of there hugging me and stuff like that and it was shortly after that when I was done hugging everybody a freaking really hit me

and I knew it was about to happen so I had to get away from everybody and I tried they had a locker room away from everybody else that I found that they were storing luggage in so I was like

I'm like, I'll just change it here. It's quiet. It's cold. It's nice. And so I was changing there all by myself with the luggage. And I kind of got back there. I ran in there and I thought I closed the door behind me. But apparently it didn't.

It just bounced right wide open. I had to stand there for a second and just gather my thoughts. And, you know, and shed a couple tears because AJ Styles is no longer wrestling again. That was tough. that I mean, but it was okay. It was okay. I just needed

Shane Helms being the first one to come in there and he knew what was up. I think he's been through that somewhat before and, you know, kind of gave me a hug and I just needed to get that out and I needed that hug from Shane and that was okay.

You know, it was, it was emotional. I don't know how to explain it anymore than that. Like it was just, do you feel like you have to grieve it? in a certain way? I mean, it's this character that has been in AJ

Stiles for 27 years no longer exists. I mean, I can be A.J. Stiles, but A.J. Stiles in the ring is just, he's, that's not going to happen. It's gone. And it's a heart pill to swallow, you know,

knowing that you're not going to walk down the aisle anymore. People are going to forget your name. I don't know about that. A lot of things are, but it, but it does. But you've left such a legacy in pro wrestling. Like, sure, you might not still be doing it, but people will never forget who you are and what you did. Well, we'll see.

I mean, I felt like we're already kind of heading that direction, and then that's okay, because they need to move on to the next stars. And they need to build these other stars to be bigger and bigger and better. So I'm okay with that. I've dealt with it. I'm okay with it. Have you had some moments at home where maybe your bags, it's in a certain area, and you grab it, you know, every Monday when you're going to head out for Raw.

Do you have a moment when you're like, oh, I'm not flying this week? Yeah, that, yeah, that was very weird like you're trying to figure out. But I think the injuries that I had kind of prepared me for what that looked like. And our schedule wasn't bad at all. So my back still stays in the same position because I'm leaving going. to the performance center or wherever they need me to be. So it still sits there. Do you think about the legacy that you've left in this industry,

27 years in, all of the things you've done? What do you think that legacy is? I don't know. Is that up to me or is that up to the fans? Does it bother me? Maybe there isn't one. I think about this all the time. Like, was I even a WWE guy?

Yes, I was there. and I participated in WWE. You held every championship. Yeah, I did all these great things in 10 years, which is amazing. But you never really see AJ Styles on some of the greatest W.W.E. stars and stuff like that. And I get it. I get it.

I was in TNA. I was in New Japan. Like, I get it. Maybe I'm not necessarily a WWE guy. But you were the guy in TNA. I'll accept that. Whenever anybody talks about TNA, it's like, you are number one and then everybody after that. Like, that's definitely going to be a big part of your legacy. Yeah, of course.

That being at the company that you helped, you know, build up a reputation of a really great stuff. Yeah, I'll take that with me. I'll take that legacy. I don't know that I can, the legacy in WWE is not as great as the one. And not because of the wrestling or the guys that I work with, weren't. It was just because of the time of which I was in TNA. Do you think about your career in different sections? I think like early AJ Stiles and TNA is very different from when you're leaving TNA. Then we see a whole other

version of you in New Japan, which is kind of like the early beginnings of what we ended up seeing in WWA. Yeah, I mean, it was really where at that end of TNAs where I really found out who A.J. Styles was. And what does that look like? He's an aggressive, he's exactly what Vince wanted. He was a pit bull. He could go out there and he freaking eat guys alive if he wanted to. Like he's very aggressive, angry at everything.

But then I was able to take that and then go to New Japan and have fun with it. And then get the WWE and go, okay, I just combine these two. And this is what you want, Vince. I got it. I got, and then being able to have so many great matches while I was there, I was icing on the K. Who do you think is the greatest feud you had in WWA? The greatest few. I think the one that got the most eyes was me and John Sina.

Beat up John Sina. But the match that I had with Roman was really freaking good. At no point in that match, they go, you can't wrestle to Rome. Roman because he was freaking bringing it. He was all about it. He was in it. I'm not saying it's me. I just, we had the opportunity to jail really well together and he was tearing it up, man.

It was awesome. So like there's a couple guys that I had great matches. I'm kind of sad that I never get to run that, you know, run that back a little bit with Roman. But, you know, and Dean Ambrose and Jericho got the rest of all these guys who were high-level names in WW. So, there's a couple. feuds out there that are pretty high on my list. You know, then we could, I mean, if we're not talking about WWE, then we can talk about Tanahashi and Okada and that one match.

I wish I had more matches with Shinske. But then we had Abyss, Christopher Daniel, Samoa Joe. Kurt Angle. Cardangle. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of great matches there, too. Yeah.

When I sat down with John Cena, he told me that you were the best. ever do it. I think he was just on high from our match for that we had last. How do you feel when John Cena says that you are the greatest pro wrestler? For John to say that after wrestling so many unbelievable professionals in the wrestling business means a lot to me. It really does. I don't know. In my head, I don't know if that's true. But for him to say that, my ego goes. up a couple points, I think, for him to say that. What did you think when you heard him say that?

I was like, oh, man, I don't know if that's true, John. But, but again, I don't know why. Him and I just, when we got the ring, every match that we ever had, and I've said this on your podcast before, I believe, we just, like, we just jailed. I don't know what it was. Our minds were in the same place. It's like it was, we just, our timing, everything was so good. So I may have tricked him because we had the same mindset.

I think the general consensus is the match that you have with John Cena was his best match during his retirement tour. So what went into planning that match? What was the idea behind that match? Well, well, it was the opportunity to throwback to every guy that we ever wrestled that meant a lot to us. And that's all it was. I mean, we didn't have much of a story, so we had to tell one in the ring. I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to wrestle him. I don't care what anybody says.

And that was a John Cena call? Maybe. I don't know who called it, but I know that I wasn't in the picture. Something else needed to happen. I don't know what that was, or someone's going to have to tell that story, because I don't know. I'm just positive that I wasn't the guy that was supposed to wrestling him. I love that that match came together on Twitter. Yeah, yeah, he kind of called me and let me know,

hey, when I say this, you respond. And I'm going, okay, I got you. I was like, okay, this is weird. Because, again, when it comes to WWE, sometimes I'm left out that you're a WWE guy. And even though me and John had so many great matches, I don't think I was in that story with him. Was there a move that you did during that match or he did that you were like,

I don't know if I can do that. Oh, yeah. So Fade the Black. And that was a shout-out to Frankie Kazarian. And I've never done that move before. And I told John to something, man, I don't know if I can do it. And he's like, yeah, you can. Yeah, I'm just going to tuck my face into your butt hole and it'll be fine.

I'm like, okay. You know, and we watch it back. And I was like, freak, that's great. Even I think Triple H said something like, I don't know, man. and so and it turned out to look really good as far as I know from what I saw looked really good so there were there a couple matches there was a point in there where John they were chanting 619 619 because they knew what we were doing at this point yeah and he goes uh so he the the ref walks over and he goes uh 619 like me to john no no no no john no john

John's going to 619 you. John's going to 619 me. All right. And so I sell over there. He gives him me the drop-toe hold. And he kind of, I heard him go, stop me before I get to, you know, to you. You know, and I didn't say anything. He goes, hey, stop me as I go for this.

I didn't say anything. Stop me before we got to go to this. Like, you yelled like, okay. And then he goes, and I go. close lighting me. I joke around like maybe if John would try the 6 or not, it may have turned into the 61. I'm not sure.

So that was just kind of funny to me at that time. But for people to understand what we were doing in that match, once they got the gist of it, I thought it was really cool. And to end it with the tombstone that nobody does was pretty freaking cool right up to his finisher. I was like, wow, that was fun. I heard Sina called the entire match. in the ring. Is that right? No. That's wrong. That is not true. Not at all. We had something called

for the beginning. And as we're about to go, walk out a gorilla, he goes, hey, I'm just going to call that beginning. I was like, okay, I trust you. That was it. So he called the beginning. You hit a beautiful Angels wings, Christopher Daniels finisher. Man. And that's a move you never see in WWA. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I don't think I did it as well as Christopher Daniels. And, And probably knows. Come on. But it was fun to be able to do these moves that I'd never done before. I've never even tried them. I think I may have hit Chris with one of his own moves.

But yeah, it was just really cool doing all of them. And in the sequence in which we'd done it just made sense. So I don't think we, once we started putting other people's moves, the can of worms was open. like, all right, here we go. And I believe the first one was a skull crushing finale. I believe that was the first one, I think,

that John hit on me, I think. It was a beautiful love letter to wrestling. You know what? When Triple H said that, I was like, man, yeah. Yeah, that is the perfect way to say it, because that's what we were doing is basically showing everybody how much these other guys meant to us

that we're going to do their moves to show how cool, everything, all the people that we've ever wrestled. This is, we're going to bring it all together. We're going to do all that stuff because we learn from those guys. So, yeah, that was a great match. Was there ever talk earlier on in the year of you having a match with John Ceyn on his farewell tour?

Nothing. Never a talk of me having a match with John. Listen, I just assume I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy. Again, sometimes I feel like even though I've been in WWE for 10 years, I'm not a WWE guy sometimes. So, and that was just one of those times. times. But I mean, I'm so glad you were able to have that match. And again, what a beautiful

match that was. Did you think about having a retirement tour? No, not at all. I didn't need one. It was perfectly fine the way I was doing it. In fact, not a lot of people do. And so I saw Cody and John calling their match at WrestleMania, I believe it was. They had a match at WrestleMania in SummerSlam. I believe it was WrestleMania, the one that I was supposed to retire at. And I kind of went up to him and I go, hey, this is to us in our

last WrestleMania's. And he's like, huh? Oh. And I was like, yeah, is it? You know? And so it was kind of cool to be there for his last run. And John, credit to him,

it wasn't about the tour. It was a about making money for WWE. And him getting his flowers at the same time. Yeah. You know, it was all about that. Everything that he did was to put over WWE. I don't know if many people realized that.

It reminded me a lot of like Kobe's final year or Derek Jeter's final year. It's like, all right, they're coming to your stadium, your arena. This is the last time. If you're not here for this, that's it. That's it. And that's very much what it felt like was seen as retirement. Yeah.

And it certainly should have been. Yeah. I mean, Sina, he is WVE. Like, he's one of the first guys I think of. So, yeah, he should have gotten everything they got and more. When we sat down and you said you were thinking about retirement, and if it all came together the way you wanted to, we'd probably figure it out.

We'd probably know what it would look like. Was that, you're talking about leading up to WrestleMania? I think by that point, I knew. it was going past WrestleMania to the Royal Rumble. So, but again, everything had to line up

the way it should have. And it did. Like, it was, yeah, it made sense. So, I'm happy with the way that went.

The fact that I didn't, you know, people were seeing AJ Styles last year. They just didn't know it. So it was a retirement tour all along. We just didn't know it.

Yeah, just didn't know it. I had a, you know, a tag team run that I was having a lot of fun with. So, yeah, it was, a good one. So how did this tag team run with Dragon Lee come together? AJ Lee, as people

lovingly called it. Yeah. You know, they just kind of told me, hey, we're thinking about putting you with Dragon Lee. I'm like, great. That's great. And so it just kind of, one of those things where we kind of worked well together and had fun and made a great tag team out of it. So the last championship you ever won was a tag team championship with Dragon Lee. That's right. As a matter of fact, after we lost the titles and he's such a great kid man so so talented so awesome everything about him

but after we lost the titles I went to one of the guys who takes off the plates you know because when you win you have your own plates on there and I had the P1 plates I knew that I wasn't winning another championship and I was like hey can I can I have can I have those plates

since you're not going to use them anymore Like, yeah, let me go see. And they go ask and they go and they came back to me. Here. Wow. They gave me the title. Oh, wow. So I have the title with the plates on at home.

Wow. And I just thought that was a really cool gift to give me. Even though I'm not a guy that asked for belts ever, I don't do that. And they were willing to hand that out to me. It was kind of a really cool moment. Do you have other mementos like that from your career? So my thing isn't collecting. Now, I do have my own plates that were on the heavyweight championship.

I have those plates. And I also have the tag plates that were on there, and I have the belt with it. But I like posters that I've been on. So I collected some of those. And I even got a big poster that they had outside of me and John Cena in Australia. So those are neat to me. Those are really, really cool. But that's all I collected.

When you think back of all the championships you won everywhere, every company all over the world, is there one that stands out for you the most? Ooh. I mean, you don't forget him, right? Like when you won the championship, you know, I believe the first TNA championship that I won was, is it NWA? Maybe it was NWA.

But anyway, that championship that associated with TNA, I wrestled Raven, Jeff Jarrett, Vince Russo comes in, hits Jeff with the guitar, that's how I win it. Really cool. Like you don't forget that. When I was New Japan, they bring me in. Okada is the champion.

My first match in New Japan, I win the IWGP heavyweight championship. Super cool. And then in WWE, I beat Dean Ambrose for the WWE championship. Like those are huge titles. In my opinion. Heaviest was the New Japan. Holy crap, that sucked carrying that thing around. Three plates stacked only on top of each other.

It was rough carrying that around. But it was an honor, just like with the TNA and the WWE, it was all an honor to be the champion. You know, for people who pay attention to like the little details on the actual belts themselves, you came out with a WWE championship with the black swoosh underneath. Yeah.

For like one week. Yeah. What's the story behind that? I don't know. They gave it to me because we have championships that we carry with us. Yeah. we have championships that we keep with WWE. Like the TV title.

Yeah, they have these boxes that we were, okay, once you're done, you put it in a case. And that's their stuff. For some reason, I don't remember why. I pulled that out, didn't think anything on, slap it on, boom. I have the black stripe in there. I had no idea. But for, you know, WD fans, WV fans that are fans of their titles, they were like, what is this? It was a big deal.

Yeah. Truth is, I had no idea. I didn't know the difference. So I don't know what happened to it. Who knows? Did they ever come out with a black? I don't think so. And I think you only came out without once, once?

One week? Yeah. So this title exists in like lore only. Apparently so. Who knows what happened to it? But if WWE, if you guys want to give me a title, that's the one. I'll take that one because I was the only one to wear it.

Yeah, I feel like that pops up every now and then where it's like, hey, this is like that one-off version. Yeah. So funny that you don't know the story behind it. Well, I mean, I didn't know. I didn't. I just put it on. That's all I know.

I can't even remember if someone gave it to me here, do this one. I don't know how that happened. I just know that I didn't know the difference. How do you feel like you look at wrestling differently in your 20s, your 30s, and then your 40s? it's way different, way different. I watch stuff in my 20s and I have here recently. I'm going, what the freak are you doing? This doesn't make any sense.

None whatsoever. No psychology just moves for the sake of doing moves. Like, this doesn't match this. I had no idea who was the hill or the baby face. I had no idea when you were going home. Like there were pieces of the puzzle missing. And but I was at that time, basically doing stuff for highlights, I think,

and for reactions of people going, whoa, we've never seen that before, you know, kind of things. But when I got into my 30s, now I'm wrestling guys who know what they're doing, you know, with Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash, I was in the West Scott. Like, they know what they're doing. They understand it. And at that time, I'm trying to understand it myself and make sense of everything and not total.

Like, I still wanted to do those high-flying moves and stuff. But again, just because you can doesn't mean you should. So definitely when I got in my 40s, it was like, I can, but it doesn't make sense to do it there. And like everybody's doing that. Why do I do it? So I went from probably my late 30s to 40s. If everybody's doing it, I'm not. In fact, I'm going to try to be the complete opposite.

If you wet your hair, mine's going to be dry. If you dive, I'm not going to. So it's little things like me coming at my sliding knee that I did on the apron. It's so it was different from everybody else's. That's why I didn't want to do a dive. I want to do a forearm over the top rope. So, you know, a lot of people think it was a house show die or, you know, Placha. It was a forearm.

I don't know a lot of people know that. But it was to be different than everybody else. Yeah, what's the story behind coming up with a phenomenal forearm? As most, I was a big fan of Masawa and Muda. There's little things that I took from. them that people probably had no idea, but like the simple like instead of just doing a simple knee drop, I always wonder why a great mood, his elbow looks so amazingly awesome. Like it was so cool. What made it look cool? It's just an elbow. But it's the way he did it. So I was okay.

So when I drop this knee, I'll just kind of move my legs in the air and make it look different, you know? And it was the same thing with a form. If Masawa can do it off the second rope, make his form's a big deal, then I can surely springboard this bad boy. and make it look pretty good. And that's how I got it. And you get high. Some are better than others, right? Like when they go past the middle of the ring,

now I'm stretching, you know. But then as they're closer, now I can jump straight up and make it look even more brutal and stuff like that. Do you have a favorite one? You know, I used to come at you, like, straight. But when I got to WWE,

you can't come off. At least I couldn't. come off the middle of the ropes because they were just too loose with that part. So I had to come from the closer to the turrubicle. But when I did that, I couldn't really go straight because they were kind of in the middle of the ring. So I had to jump here kind of sideways. So I started going a little sideways and hitting them with the form where in TNA you can see me coming straight right at them. Even in New Japan, I was coming right at them. So I had to change it up a little bit based on that, but still got the point across. I feel like phenomenal in wrestling is like,

synonymous with you. When did that happen? Like the name phenomenal? Yes. Dan the Dragon Wilson, who was a commentator in Wildside. For some reason, I don't really know why. Just kind of said, he's phenomenal. He's the phenomenal A.J. Stiles. And it stuck. Like it was from then on, I was the phenomenal A.J. Stiles. And it was so different at the time. I was like, wow, that's pretty cool. You know, and I'm thankful for it. You know, I was like, there's going to be a time where it's going to be hard to be phenomenal, you know.

But it was really cool. I'm so thankful that he called me that and it stuck. My friends and I would use it to describe things. So, like, if we saw a movie we like, we'd be like, oh, that movie was A.J. Stiles. Oh, yeah. Phenomenal. Yeah, I like that.

How's that beer? A.J. Stiles. That's great. Just phenomenal. I love that it's become that. Well, I don't know that everybody think. I have heard people say, oh, that was a phenomenal. I go, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Like, you owe me a nickel. But, yeah, that's pretty cool. I would love for everybody to say that's AJ's Tiles. So with the benefit of the hindsight you have now looking back on your career and how you viewed things in your 20s, 30s and 40s, what's the wisdom you're imparting when you're at the PC or you're here at Ketch and you're working with young and upcoming wrestlers? There's so much that I have.

learned about coaching because there's so much I want to show you. But if I show you all these things, you're only going to remember one or two. So it's going over the one, two, maybe three things, and let's go over it. And I'm going to explain why it's being done. The counters to this and where to put it. Some things don't belong in other places. They just don't. So in explaining all this, I was like, oh my gosh, there's so much to learn in wrestling that I've taken for granted that's in here that I need to teach, but you can't teach it all at once so they'll not remember anything. They'll not retain a thing. So that's really hard trying to figure that out for what moves are going to stay in repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. So is it honing the things

they're already doing and being like, hey, actually, if you did it a little bit like this, it would look better or make more sense? Yeah, I mean, there's definitely that. And explain why I take it this way or why do it this way. I love that why is the thing that every veteran comes back to. Why are we doing this? I mean, it really, if you can explain it to them, the why, it'll make sense in where you put it. You know, again, we're not doing things because we can. They have to make sense where we put them or your match is going to be all over the place. So just being able to work down the PC and give ideas and stuff like that, I'm having a great time. And even you know, coaching my son,

he may be the worst at yeah buts. But it's because... In what way? Well, hey, I want to do this, dad. And I go, yeah, you don't need that there. But dad, dude. You know, he wants to be like his dad.

And that's like, you have to be you. You have to be you. You can do stuff that I have done before. And that makes sense why you should. at some point, but that's not who you are. You have to be Avery styles. You have to be different. And, you know, and I get it.

I'm his dad. I get it. I'm his dad, so he has to, he feels like he can, I don't know, give me the ab butts more than anybody else. Sure. So there was a point and I go, hey, look, if you're not going to listen to me, then have someone else train you. But in saying that, after seeing his debut match,

so, so proud of him. Oh, it was incredible. He did so well. I mean, if you could see my first match and his first match, holy, holy, he's not in day better than me. But I didn't have a guy coaching me that done all the things that I have done. But there's little things that you can't coach, like time. not rushing. It's a thing. It's a young disease that most wrestlers have. They rush through everything.

But if we can figure out how to slow them down, that's the magic right there. Have you seen the photo of him doing the phenomenal forum next to the photo of you doing? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's really, really cool. Identical. Yeah. He did extremely well. And he's got another match coming up. I believe it's this Saturday. So I'm stoked to see what he's got in store. While with his dad doing some stuff at the WWE Performance Center, it feels like maybe he'll have a tryout at some point soon. Well, and I hope that he does at some point, but he's not ready yet. I don't, my job is to make him ready and teach him the little things that we want to see as coaches.

And, you know, I mean, there's been plenty of guys that even myself have went for tryouts. And they say, hey, we just want to, we don't care about the high. flying moves. We just want to see what you can do. And I had no idea what they're talking about. And now being that guy, I get it. It's the little things in between that we want to see that if you do it well. And that's the hardest things to learn is the in between. Do you think he feels the pressure of being AJ style? He's told me. He's told me. And I get it. And I said, listen, you don't have to do this. You don't have to do. And he's like, yeah, but I said, I'd, I want to say, I didn't do it.

I didn't have to, you know, yeah, but your dad wasn't AJ Stiles. I was like, okay, I get it, I get it. So it's finding out what's best for him at the time in where he's at. Because it's like take the things that we know and let's perfect them so that we can move on after perfection. Like I don't want you to make a 70. I want you to make a 90 and above on this test. in every match is a test

to see where you're at. How old is he? 19. Oh my gosh. Yeah. No, he's going to be incredible. Yeah.

I mean, he's not even, he's not even a man yet. I know 19 you seem like, but if you've had kids, you know, and you do, but older kids.

Yeah. Even I remember myself, I was slim and trim until I got at about 25 and I was like going to start putting weight on like good muscle weight. So he's going to get to that point. And by that time,

Hopefully he's had six years of experience, and he's rocking and rolling. So after you had your final match against Gunther, you've got to say goodbye in your hometown. You got to say goodbye in Atlanta. What did that moment? What did that speech mean for you? Oh, you know what? When my buddy, writer, Chad, I'm just going to say his name because I love him. We're going over it, and he goes, this sounds like a.

Hall of Fame speech. And I go, yeah, it kind of does. He goes, yeah, why don't we just do something different? And I don't know if he knew at that time,

or maybe he did, that The Undertaker was coming out. So it was one of those that just kind of spoke from the heart rather than from a piece of paper that somebody wrote from me. And I think that people saw that.

They could see it. And then, of course, Undertaker comes out. What were you thinking when you heard that gong? Well, they said the Undertaker was coming out. I assumed we're going to shake hands and be like, hey, congratulations, you know, on your retirement. Thank you.

You know, got to think. That's what I thought was happening. And then he comes in there talking about, I don't even know what he was talking. I just know it sounded like we were going to wrestle again. Like, I know we're not wrestling. Like, I know we're not doing that. So what are you talking about?

And it, and I think, I don't remember exact words, but there was a moment like, oh, and I looked at my wife and like, you know what he's, you know, then we kind of got the idea of the Hall of Fame and being inducted, which was really cool and a total surprise because I had no idea. When you didn't put your gloves in the ring at the Royal Rumble, I think people were confused. They were like, what's going on?

I thought if you lost this match, you had to retire, but we also know how wrestling retirements work. Was the plan the whole time to just be able to do it in Georgia? We had talked about being able to, you know, I knew in like, three weeks, I think, four weeks that they were coming to, Raw was coming to Atlanta. I was like, man,

that'd be a great place to really drop them right there. Yeah. And it was. It was a great moment for me to take off the jacket and lay the gloves down and be done. I know a lot of guys leave their boots, but my whole thing was my gloves. And I think they got the idea

once the gloves were laid down. Have you thought about that Hall of Fame speech? Yeah, I thought about it a lot, actually. And again, it turned out to be one of those things a Chad, my writer again, my buddy, we just go, well, this is,

I'm just going to write out like cliff notes. Yeah. Because it wasn't, we didn't write the thing down and just kind of. Speak from the heart. Speak from the heart. Yeah.

And that's exactly what it was. And my, in that speech, I wanted to clump a lot of people together because there's a lot of people I need to think. But I would, you're always going to leave somebody else, you know, out. And so I didn't want that. I didn't want feelings to get hurt.

So I just clumped them all together. And for the most part, I was thinking about the people sitting that had worked that night on SmackDown and that had worked all day doing signings and whatever they had to do. Like, I was thinking about them. And so I wanted to speak to them, hopefully, you know, a little bit to the fans, but I definitely wanted to speak to my peers who, I meant it I told him I was like if I ever told you I loved you

I meant it dude like I just want you guys to know how much I care about you and so I remember looking at my watch you go I'm not very good record here for the shortest speech

the shortest speech ever but and then I go and then I of course thanked him and and I remember looking at John and he goes wow you know

but so many of them you know the wrestlers came up to me and said, man, that was a great speech. You know, it didn't matter that it wasn't forever long. It touched them, I think, I hope. And I think it was a grand total of eight minutes, I think. Yeah. But did they give you a length of time to work within?

Never said anything to me. Wow. And you know what? It happened exactly the way it was supposed to. Stephanie's was amazing. Like, of course. Like, she was a big part of WWE. And so her should have been exactly the way it was.

It was really, really good. I think she spent a lot of time on that one, making it perfect. It was so good. And so there was no competing with that. But then me going out there, being last, big deal to me, but also taking into consideration what everybody had done that day, I just tried to make it Hartfeld. You got a beautiful send-off from John Cena before the last matcher you had.

He wrote out that custom intro for you. Oh, wow, yeah. At what point did you realize what was happening? Oh, I'm stretching. I had no idea what was going on. I knew none of this. And I'm stretching and I can't exactly, the words, but the definition of TNA was, I think that's how, I can't remember, but a T&A, I go, wait a minute. Is he, are they talking about me?

You know, and then so I took a step back and they said more. And I look at John, I go, you know, and so, and then they said Bullet Club, the Ace of Bullet Club. I go, whoa, we were we supposed to say that, you know. Really cool moment, really cool moment. He took the time to make me feel like I was a star, you know, not just AJ Stiles, but there's AJ and John seen in the ring at the same time, and I'm just as big a star as he is. And it kind of makes your heart melt when you think about it. Like this guy thought so much of me that he wanted to make sure it was special to me too.

That was such a cool moment. Really cool. And I feel like as soon as that intro started, the fans started to realize, oh, I see what's going on here. Yes, they did. Yeah, that was so cool. The crowds, I feel like, have been so good to you, especially over the last year or two. That crowd in France, unbelievable. The first time that was over, I wrestled Cody.

I'm easily the bad guy. I'm the bad guy. But they started chanting the phenomenal song, not mine. I'm sure it's a soccer song. And man, they didn't want to stop. They were shaking the camera of a hard camera. They were shaking it. They were jumping up and down.

It was unbelievable. Man, I'm getting goosebumps as you're talking about. And I'm trying not to smile. because I'm the bad guy. I'm the mean bad guy. Did you know what they were saying? But you knew it was like directed at you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, the day before we went out on the stage and we got to do our things and beef up the match a little bit and they started chanting it. And I said, you know, you guys are disrespectful because I didn't know what they were saying. And then someone said, no, it's not that at all. They're saying you're phenomenal.

And I'm like, what? and I'm like, oh my gosh. Oh, man, that's pretty freaking cool. So, of course, when they did it, when I was in the ring with Cody, I was just like, wow. They just went on for way too long, right? You know, but then I went back. I went back, and I was wrestling Dominic Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship.

And Dominic was supposed to come out during break. but because they wouldn't stop singing phenomenal, they waited till we came back for commercial break. That's easily three minutes that they were singing this song. They just let them sing the whole commercial break. And so waited until, you know, Dom came out and then they started like, so that's how long it was. It's pretty awesome.

I think what's so amazing is they all get in unison like that. they get a lot of practice from soccer. Again, I think that's where this comes from. And so it's not like they hadn't done it before. That's what I think. And so, thank God, you know, I had the moniker phenomenal, you know. So it was a really, really cool moment. That moment of backlash might be one of the all-time great crowd interaction moments.

Oh, and that's when we started trying to measure, all right, UK. you see what France did or you know you know I forget where we were next but like no yeah didn't quite do France you know because they were it wasn't just on and Cody's match they were into they were in every match oh yeah they they were so happy to be a part of the show they made it even better how did it make you feel like you're going out there as the heel and you got arguably the biggest reaction of the night I didn't quite understand it again I'm thankful for probably a soccer song that got me over. Because I don't know how much of AJ styles they've watched in the past.

Did they know anything about me? Did they care? Was it just the phenomenal that they wanted to sing? Because, again, I am the bad guy. I have done nothing nice but been super mean to Cody, the, I mean, just absolute baby face. So I was like, all right, freak, man. I don't know.

I don't really know what to do. I'll just not smile. I just try to act tough in here. Cheap my gum like I was going out of business because I had no idea what to do next. When we sat down before you told me you never wanted to hear ready to fly ever again. Yeah.

So when you came back to TNA, it felt like they couldn't play any song but that. Yeah. So me saying, I never want to hear it again. And then as soon as I come out to TNA, all these videos started coming up. Of that clip. Of that clip. Me and you talking. So I don't know.

I think maybe it's a nostalgia thing. Even I at them, I go like, oh, freak it is kind of cool. You know, I had to go back. It took me back. But it was the way they reacted in TNA. They were singing the song. So not every day that you get them singing your song. So I was happy about that.

Well, I think when TNA and WWE started working together, people started seeing the possibility here. Maybe we'll see A.J. Stiles in TNA one more time. So how did that appearance in TNA come together? How did that happen? I guess TNA just asked if they could borrow. or AJ for a night. No wrestling just to come out and do something with Leon.

You know, his first title, I believe it was the first Exhibition champion. Yeah. First time being an Exhibit Champion. So it was a moment. And I think it was going to be a really cool moment to do that with Leon. And it was. And it was. And it was. And it was. And it was. Take it from how did it come together? How did it come together? Well, I think that TNA just asked. You know, he doesn't have to wrestle. We just wanted to come out there and have a moment with Leon Slater.

I think the youngest ex-division champion in TNA history. Tide now for the longest reign of the X-Owild championship, yes. Who had any idea who had the longest? So him and Austin Aries are tied. Okay. He lost the title on the night he could have broken it. Oh, man. Yeah.

Always happens that way. But, man, it was a really cool moment. just seeing Leon jump around the ring, you know, with me coming down, I thought, dude. What an endorsement, right? Yeah. The guy that people think of when they think of TNA, you, and for him, the guy who could easily be the future of TNA, together in the ring. That's really cool to see.

Yeah, no, it was definitely a moment. And him and I are, you know, big brother, little brother, you know, like he's a really cool dude. I tried to give some words of wisdom. You know, it wasn't all just for take pictures that we had a chat. And so many things that his peers said about him were all good. Nothing bad. In fact, they were like, this guy, he's different.

Like, he's great. Not only is he, they bragged about how good of the person he was more than the wrestler. Oh, that says something. That says a lot about him. Yeah. Was there ever a possibility of having a match in TNA? I don't think there was ever a possibility of me having a match in TNA. and I think I know why

because once I did that appearance with Leon I mean where Chelsea Green came up come up to me and said oh I would love to go back there and have a match I go oh that's why I'll never have a match over there because once you open that door

it's open now and people are going to want to do it so I knew I knew after our talking to Chelsea and she wasn't saying anything bad just the idea of being able to wrestle there would be great. Yeah. I knew that it never happened. Yeah.

Is there anything in your career you don't feel like you got a chance to do? Oh, man. I mean, I had so much fun in my career. I can't imagine what is out there left that I needed to do. Are there any dream matches you didn't get to have? I think there are dream matches that definitely fans wanted. And, of course, yeah, of course I would love to have wrestled Eddie Guerrero. and Sean Michael.

Yes. Right? But it would be so that I can learn from these guys. Because if some of the stories that I hear about Eddie calling so much stuff like just on the fly, I would love to learn from that guy. You know? And Sean, I wonder what our timing would be like. Would it be identical?

Because I find a lot of the stuff that he does. It's kind of like the timing would be very similar. You know, so it's not like I didn't want it to happen. You know, I even tried with Sean. but, you know, I get it. At what point did you try with Sean? Oh, yeah. It was, I forget who I wrestled, but I was like, man, can I wrestle Sean?

Like, oh, he's not going to do it. I was like, has anybody asked him? You know. What are we talking? Like when you just first signed with W. No, no, no. It was after that maybe. Like around his crown jewel match?

Five or six years in, maybe seven years in. I was like, eh, because I wanted to wrestle Triple H too. And he was like, this is before the heart stuff. but he was kind of like, man, I think my bandwidth is just kind of not where you should be. I was like, oh, frank. You know, I'm jealous of, I'm jealous of so many guys. I'm jealous of punk that he got to wrestle these guys, and I never did. You know, I just got there too late.

Yeah. But it would have been a good learning experience than watching, you know, being able to watch these guys and now be in the ring with him, a lot to learn there. But I don't think your career would have ended up the way that it did had you gone to WWE earlier. Like, I feel like it took the time that it took in TNA for you to become this version of you, certainly the time in New Japan. Like, I feel like had you signed with WWE in the mid-2000s, we wouldn't have got this version of you. I agree. You wouldn't have. In fact, I don't think I would have made it. I'm not good with getting bullied. I don't do well. I file back. It's just a redneck

thing. And I don't think I would have done well. I would have, if you, if you're not good with getting bullied, I don't do If you had put me in the ring with somebody and let me do what I do and sell for them, I think that I would have done okay. But I think it would have been very, very different. You might have got lost in like the Cruiserweight Division back then. I mean, Daniel Bryan was the first guy to make smaller, not small guys, but just average guys look good. Like he had the opportunity of doing what most didn't, especially at that time. Sure.

And he kind of opened the door. him when Ray became the champion? Yeah, Ray, the thing about Ray is he is a superstar because he is small, not because he's average. Like, you meet Ray and you go, wow, and he just, for

some reason, because he is this small, comes across as the biggest star you've ever met. And I've said this a couple of times, and I don't know how many people realize it. Ray Mysterio is the, in my opinion, is the best luchador ever.

ever and I had the opportunity to be in the ring with him a couple of times he's so good dude it's ridiculous he shouldn't be that good especially even now he's so good yeah feels like he hasn't lost a step man he's unbelievable dude and one of the coolest guys you'll ever meet and there's something about like what you're talking about he has this presence when you meet him like he he feels like you're meeting a size isn't doesn't matter yeah just like wow that's rames there's a presence Yes. As the kids say that he's got an aura, whatever. He's got it, man. He's so special because he is the size that he is. There's a video of your first ever WWE promo that makes the rounds on the internet. Man, it's so bad. A lot of people don't know. I think Kurt Engel was sitting in the same room that I am in trying to cut this promo.

Kurt's amazing at promos. So what year is this? Oh, this is 2002. Okay. Maybe. Maybe 2000. So Kurt's been there for a few years. Right after WCW, I believe that they brought me up. Oh, man, I'm so nervous.

I remember Xbox was in the promo that they had, and I kept calling him Xbox. You know, like, I was like, oh, my God, I'm just so nervous. And my accent is so bad. What's this first line? You know me say it like, AJ style? from young AJ styles, the sweet smell of success. That's how it sounded. You know, like, I didn't know that my accent was that bad.

And lucky for me, in TNA, that my best friends were all from freaking California, Frankie Gazzarian, Samoa Joe, Christopher Dales. And they helped me. They didn't cure me of the Southern accent, but they definitely helped me. And it's not near that bad. Thank God. holy moly dude it was so bad what do you think when you watch that promo back now oh it's kind of embarrassing that my accent was that bad like i'm the epitome of southern in that um but i was just a

kid man i've only been around georgia never been out never done a lot of things it was exactly what it should have been probably in my career now this is before social media and whatnot so yes, we're watching TV, but everything I watch, everybody had an accent, or not everything I watched, but everything I was around was an accent. I'm sure all your friends, your family and Georgia. You think about so much social media now that these kids are getting. I'm surprised they have an accent at all.

I'm sure that my kids have a southern accent that you can tell it's kind of there, but not as bad as mine when I was coming up. It's interesting to see where you were then and where you are now. Because your promos in WWE, they always got to the point. Like, especially the stuff you did with John Cena.

It's like, man, this is believable. And I think that's the best compliment you can give someone in a promo. Is it believable? Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah. That is, right. That's what you want.

You have to be invested in what you're saying. Because if you don't believe it, then nobody else will. Yeah. And there's been times where I was like, this is stupid. This is a, you know, I remember the thing with Samoa Joe, where he was coming to my house. I'm like, this doesn't make any sense. Why would I be scared to see Samoa Joe in my house?

Why wouldn't I just call the cops? Why don't I just have the big dog in the front porch? Like, these are things that I have. Like, yeah, I'm, so it was just an old school kind of story there that, you know, didn't make sense to me. And I tried to make it believable, but I didn't believe in it myself. When you wore the throwback TNA gear against John C&A. Was that your actual gear from 20 years ago?

No, it was not my actual gear. We had to get new gear made. I don't know where that gear is. Yeah, who knows. But there was a picture of John and I on PWI, the magazine. And it was me and that gear. And John, of course, in his shorts. And I thought, nah, I'm going to do a throwback and see how many people remember that or understand it.

Oh, they figured it out right away. Yeah, I didn't know if they did, be honest with you. but I was like, I don't look half bad in those shorts. You know, I had to come back. And they were super comfortable. But it was cool, man. Hopefully everybody got the gist of what we were doing, the throwback to what I wore and a throwback to the match.

We were talking about The Undertaker earlier, and man, what a moment. He's the guy telling you you're going to be in the WWB Hall of Fame. I'm so curious what the original idea was for the match at WrestleMania 36, because you were going to have an actual match before the world shut down and you had to make this a cinematic match. What was that match going to look like?

It's hard to know. I do remember asking Take her, I was like, hey, can you still do the back over, you know, flip over to your feet onto the outside? And he goes, hey, Jay. I go, I don't know, man. I'm just making sure, you know. Like, I get it now that I've, you know,

you don't think I can do it, you know, kind of thing. But I don't know. We didn't get a chance to really talk it over. Because by the time it was on its way, like when it was happened, the world was shutting down completely. So we didn't know what kind of match. We didn't talk about it. You know, I was trying to think of spots in my head that we could do. But, man, with everything that's going on, it's hard to think of anything else.

So then it's pitched to you if we're going to do the cinematic style match? Yeah, about two days before we had it. Hey, we're going to have a cinematic. What, what? What? bone yard match. And they said, you know what? I think it was a week.

Matter of fact, because I think it was presented as a bone yard match. I was like, what if the freak is a bone yard match? It could have just said graveyard match, but they wanted to say bone yard match. And then I had no idea where it was going. And then we go over to the place where this cinematic match is going to happen.

It looked like nothing. It was basically nothing. And then I get brought back. of the day that we're going to shoot. I was like, oh my gosh, this looks amazing. This looks unbelievably amazing. This is awesome. And so I started getting excited about that because you think about cinematic matches

normally don't do well. Like they're not the best thing ever. And to that point, nobody really knew how it was going to be done in WWE. Well, the Wyat's and the New Day had a cinematic match, which I thought was freaking awesome. And the Hardee's had crushed it in TNA. Yeah, they were the first ones that ring it up. Yeah.

but they did like the new day in the Wyatts they didn't the WWE fans I don't like I didn't hear a lot of wow that was amazing and I remember watching going think that was amazing that was great but I don't think the fans thought of it that way so and then we had the thing with Randy too you know that he did were with the Wyat's I believe so I was skeptical but then seeing it the Boneyard I was like this might be cool This might be great. And then after finally finishing up, I was like, oh, this is good. This is going to be really good. How close were you guys to stopping this match with, was it the arm through the window? Yeah. Taker had a little something to break the window in his hand. And I don't know if he hit it so hard, which he had to.

His hand just goes all the way through. And this is real glass. This is a real window. Slices his arm open. Sizes his arm open. and he was like, oh, I think he, son of a, I think he said that. And that was all real. And then we stopped for a second and cleaned him up.

I think he may have got some stitches. I'm not sure. I don't think he got stitches yet. He got cleaned up. And then we just went right back to filming. Like, yeah, he's the end to take here. That didn't hurt him. Crazy.

Oh, dude, he's such a bad A, man. It's, it was cool to do that with it, man. And our timing again, timing is everything in a match. We didn't talk about much. We just kind of did it. And it was, we never had to redo it. The first time was the best one. Wow.

So it makes you wonder what that would have been like if we had been in the ring together. Yeah. You know, this photo that you posted with John Cena outside the Circle K, people think that's a real photo. Not a real photo. People think because it's on your account, it's real. Yeah, I don't know.

I think it got posted on Instagram somewhere, so I snagged it up and posted it myself. Just two guys enjoying retirement. Yeah, just ridiculousness. Just such a goofy photo of two guys. And the gear that I had on, the whatever I was wearing was even more ridiculous. John actually looked cool. I looked like a dweeb. Would you ever wear that?

No, no, not. Absolutely not. So, yeah, that was too funny for me not to. to post on Instagram. I love it. Maybe there's more out there that you post. Part of me wants to do a real photo shoot of me, retirement with just the goofiest clothes

that apparently, maybe it's Uber rich freaking people that wear that cut. I don't know. I don't know. I think you might be on to something. Yeah, I've seen a lot of circle Ks driving up here to Nashville. There are a lot of circle Ks around here. I could definitely do it.

Well, maybe. I want you to not be humble for just a minute here. What do you think it is, that makes you one of the best of all time in the ring. That's a really good question. Intensity. Perfection. Is it striving for perfection?

Always striving for perfection. I don't like watching my matches because I'll find something I hate in it. It could be the best match ever. And I go, this is terrible. I just eat myself up. So I had to get to the point where I wouldn't watch it

because then I would ruin it. And so I haven't watched a lot of matches, especially in the last couple years of AJ Styles, because I'll, like, God, what did you? You didn't sell this. You know, there's so many things that I'll just pick apart. But it's the obsession, though, of doing everything as perfect as I possibly can in that ring that I hope separates me from a lot of other guys. Is there a match you enjoy going back and watching? Not that I can think of. Not that I can think of.

Have you rewatched this match with John Sina? No. Have you ever rewatched Unbreakable 2005? I've seen highlights. Man, that match is the best. That's the best way to watch it, is just the highlights. Oh, that match is so good. Now, the highlights are great, but the story you guys telling that match.

Oh, man. That is an all-time match. Yeah, I mean, listen, I am thankful for those matches, but to watch them back, I'm sure I would just, there's some stuff that I absolutely hate. I watched a match back with the Amazing Red and AJ Styles as the ROH tag team champions against the Briscoe brothers. After having that match, I thought it was great.

I watched it the other day. What the freak were we doing? Like, there's no shine, there's no heat. Like, you think there's a little heat, but it's like, it's just weird. Like there's ways you structure a match that I don't feel like there's any structure at all. And so I was like, what? You know, of course, though, we got all the pops and stuff that they wanted.

And I guess it was just the time in which we were there. People were just freaking going crazy or that kind of stuff. But I watch it back and go, dude, you guys are idiots. But you probably went to the back after that match and went, great match, guys. Great match. It was awesome. I mean, we're talking about Jay and Mark Briscoe. I think Mark was 18 and Jay may have been 19 or they're not too far apart in age.

Maybe Jay was 20. But I'm 25. Red is probably only 20, 21. Like we're all super young. I'm the oldest at 25. You know, so it's just seeing how far you come from that point is, it's pretty cool. but again, it's that young brain of mine that just assumed that this is how it should be done

and so did theirs. It's great having experience because it'll teach you a lot of things. There's a few moments from your TNA career I want to ask you about. Okay. When you slid under the guardrail and that match against Abyss,

how did you know you'd be able to slide under? Well, there are guardrails that you can slide under and there are guardrails you cannot. And that day we had some of the guardrails that you could slide under. It was just enough to be able to get under there. And I'd done it before in other places, but, you know, it depends on what kind of guardrails they were. So, again, that day, I was like, all right, I can slide under this. This will be cool.

Little that I know, some people probably weren't going to move. So I had to kick a chair out of my way at one point. But I was able to fit under there. So just a little enough room for clearance for it? Just enough room for clearance. just enough. Again, it's not going to work everywhere, so you have to look at them. Like, you just can't slide on a regular guardrail. It's got to be the ones that are a little bit higher. There's a moment where P.D. Williams goes to suplex you, and he suplexes you right into a guardrail.

Yeah. It looks nasty. Yeah, and it hurt, too. But it was supposed to be a moonsault. But I think the apron prohibited us from, you know, if I would have done it, in the moonsault, my legs, my toes probably would hit the ropes. And he would have had to release me high rather than low. So thank God. It was quick thinking of half a second probably that I'm not doing the moonsault. I'm just going to eat it. But yeah, that was not a good idea.

But that's that me being young and PD being young. Like, yeah, this will be great. That's one of those moments that looks like it could stop a match. Like that's one of those like very painful looking moments. But isn't it interesting that some of the most painful things in wrestling are the things that just don't look like anything? And, you know, it's a lot of times when people get really bad hurt or when they blow it on knee. It's something super easy, like a leapfrog or something. Like it's simple things.

I slide under, you know, where they're just doing a baseball slide and they ripped their ankle apart. It's crazy. And then some of the things that look absolutely brutal, I'm like, oh, that was nice. That it didn't hurt at all. I thought it was going to hurt, but no, man, it was cool. I had Finn Baller on the show a few weeks ago, and I asked him this question. I'm curious what your answer is.

When you close your eyes, what's the moment that your mind takes you to in wrestling? Maybe it's right before you go to sleep, but what's the moment that's right there and it's like burned, etched into your memory? Oh my gosh, dude. Like one of those moments that just means so much to you. Well, if you're talking about something that's burned in my head

that I'll never forget. And maybe we've talked about this on the last time I was on here. I can't remember. When Chris Saban drop kicks me from the Ultimate X and I take the inside out bump, I thought I was about to be paralyzed.

Like, I don't know how to explain it to you, but in that time when it took for me to fall, I was already thinking, oh, no, I'm going to land me on the back of my head. Like, I'm not just. going to make it. And I'm about to be knocked out. And I was just preparing for it. So in that split second, I was able to think about these things that were about to happen to me. And then I landed perfect. And I was like, oh, oh, oh, I got that dead. You know, but it was, uh, how was that spot was supposed to go?

Exactly the way it did. Exactly the way it did. I just, I, I, I never tried it. I didn't know if it was possible. I just, you know, there's no practice, something like that. So, Chris, hit me perfectly, enough to shove me this way and I could go in and out and I let go at the right time. It just that tuck to get to my back was a lot scared than I thought it was going to be. So yeah, and that split second I thought I was about to be paralyzed. That's scary. Yeah. And you've probably, your mind probably takes you to what if that had been an inch the other way? Oh yeah. What's my life look like? Oh yeah. And it's not the first time that happened. I was in New Japan.

I believe I was wrestling Maccabi. I'm not sure, but he does the spider German off the top. And the spider Germans, when you hook your feet in and German from the top rope kind of deal. Well, I thought, I bet you I can do a moonsault and win on my feet. And then after going up there and go, no, I don't think I can. And then I forget who asked me, like, I think Gato came up to me. He said, hey, can you do a moonsault? I'm like, yeah. Of course.

So I asked my copy. I said, hey, can you, can you throw me high rather than throw me, you know? And whatever happened happened. And I'm looking back like this in the front of my head hits. So I'm upside down in the front of my head hits. I was like, oh, holy crap, my arm catches on fire, you know, sting it right away. And I was able to finish the match and all, but that was pretty scary. I almost broke my neck there.

So, yeah, a couple moments. There's a lot of wrestlers who have claimed to be the best. C.M. Punk, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, Brad Hart, the list goes on. Was there ever a point in your career, even though you never said it? Was ever a point where you felt like you were the best wrestler in the world? I think at any given time I could be in the best match. I just, I don't think. I was very confident in my abilities,

but to say that I was the very best, me saying that, it doesn't matter. I was very confident that when we step through those ropes, dude, let's tear it up. Sure. You know. I don't know the quote, but it's something about,

like if you're telling yourself, you're the best, that's one thing. When they're telling you that you're the best, that's something else. And don't get me wrong. If I go to a corner and I know I'm about to have a great match, I'm telling myself you were built for this.

You were made for this moment. This is you right here. You're the best, dude. Go out there and show them. Like, I'm telling myself that. But it's not because I would be telling myself I'm the best if I actually believed it. I have to boost my confidence to myself, like talk to me. And so get me ready for the match.

I think it's going to be great. But for me to say that, I don't know. I'll never say it. I'll never say that I'm the best. ask because there's always opinions out there and, you know, everybody's entitled to that opinion. They're not wrong. It's their opinion. Well, John Cena says it and I'll say it too. Oh, no. The best ever do it. No, no. I don't know. There was a point a few years ago when AJ Styles stood for absolutely jacked styles. Are you going to keep all the muscle mass?

I think I've already started to lose it, to be honest with you, just because cardio isn't, what it was, you know, because now if I do cardio like I was doing, oh, I'm going to be in trouble the next day, like my back and everything. It's like it's weird, like my body's going, oh, he's not wrestling. Yeah, this is going to hurt today. I know you just went to bed, but this is what's going to hurt today. But is it also, ah, I'm not wrestling. Those cookies look pretty good. Oh, well, I have to, I've had to get myself in order because, yes, those cookies did look good. So I had to dial that back a lot. What's your vice when it comes to food?

What's my go-to? Yeah. Oh, man. What's your kryptonite? A kryptonite. Man, pizza is always good, man. I'm with you. Oh, my God.

I mean, there's not a time when you can't have pizza. No such thing is bad pizza. I agree, man. Even when it's bad, it's not bad. Yeah, even, hey, if it's cold, it's still good. Yep. So, yeah, I think pizza is my go-to. Pizza?

It's easy and quick. I know. Just go pick it up, 10 minutes. Yes. What about sweets? You name it, I'll eat it. If it's sweet, I'll eat it. Like, it's, I try to stay away from things like, you know, Oreos don't even freaking

melt anymore. You know, like, I try to. It doesn't mean I do. Yeah. Yeah, I have a huge sweet tooth. It's bad. That's why I drink my liquid death. sodas.

See, you know, it's only two grams of sugar, but it gives me that. And those tastes so good. So good. Like, I know it's not a Dr. Pepper, but the Dr. Death tastes like a Dr. Pepper to me.

Apparently, they need to sponsor you. Apparently, they need to sponsor my show too. Yeah, yeah, they do need to sponsor. They do. Doctor Death in the root beer flavor. My fridge is stocked. I'm always looking for liquid death sodas at the

well, they're not soda. It's sparkling water. Is it considered a soda, though? I don't think so. I think they actually say on the can, this is the way to, like, kick the soda habit because there's barely any sugar in it. Barely any sugar, two grams. It tastes just like a soda. To me, it does.

Me too. So, yeah. I have a bit of an energy drink addiction. Does it, does it, do you often wonder why they don't make sodas that taste like energy drinks? That's a great question. Why don't they? I'm not drinking because I need the energy. I just really like the taste.

Same. And I especially love C4. Their flavors taste like candy, like quite literally. They have a Skittles flavor. They have a Starburst flavor. They have a Jolly Rancher flavor. I'm drinking it because I want to drink the flavor. Ghost is another good one.

Yeah, their flavors are incredible. Yeah, there's a lot of good ones. Look at all these companies we plug. Yeah, right. C4 should send me a fridge full of C4. Yeah, they should. Yes. And liquid death to A.J. Stas. Yeah, I need liquid death.

I'll drink it on my phenomenally retro podcast. I'm just throwing that out there. Perfect chance to plug your podcast, too. And that podcast, we talk about video games and wrestling because they just kind of go hand in hand. So a lot of things that I've said on that show that've gotten out there, which is good, I think. But no, I'm having a good time with it. You love pro wrestling. You love video games.

What's the greatest pro wrestling video game of all time? If you know AJ Styles, then you know this already. Virtual pro wrestling too. It is a all Japan, you know, from Japan, right? All Japan wrestling. It was, you know, their video game, except they also had all the other characters that you could make on there. Their characters were there, but they didn't look like them.

But they had all the things where you could make it look like them. So smart. So every Japanese company and some American wrestlers, you could make in there with ease. and they have all their attributes, all their moves, everything. So it was, for me, it's one of the best wrestling games ever made. Where do you rank? There's two games that always come to mind when people talk about the greatest wrestling video games of all time.

Where's no mercy on your list? No mercy is up there. It's my, I would say, number two. And where's Smackdown versus Raw of six? I don't know, because I didn't play it. They didn't play it. I didn't play it. Oh, my gosh.

I'll tell you why, because it was an ackey made, it was not an acion made game. I like the controls of the way that they made their game. And it was easy to play, hard to master. That's the perfect way to enter any kind of video game. If you can find a way to make that happen, it didn't take a long time to figure out, you know, the controls. That's what made it so good. So what's number three on the list? As far as wrestling games.

Yeah. I'm probably going to throw pro wrestling on the Nintendo up there. Wow. What a game. I mean, it was simple, it was fun, and it was actually really well done. I can tell, you know, Amazon, Starman, like, those are my guys. Like, I get it. Like, it was a really quality, this is an 8-bit video game. Yeah.

That was really awesome. You know, I had the Amazon where he cheat and, you know, that wouldn't me. I love that stuff. So I think we got to throw that in there. So even though you're retired from the ring, seems like you're busier than ever. So, I mean, you could say, I'm not doing anything. I'm just going to spend time with my wife and kids. What's made you run towards just keeping busy?

It's kind of just part of the lifestyle. I mean, it's a good thing to be busy. I think when you retire, you die early. A lot of people I've seen that. Yeah. Something happens. You slow down. Stop moving.

Yeah, you stop moving. And motion is lotion. That's right. That's right. Dude, that's true. Yeah. And so getting in there with my son and wrestling around and doing things like that at the Performance Center is a big deal to me.

and be able to show them, not only just tell them, but be able to show them, like, this is the way I want it done. You know, some of those I will regret the next day, but to be able to do that while I still can is important to me. Are you done done?

We all know how wrestling retirements work. That's right, but I have said this before, and I'll say it again. Usually we're granted one comeback for one match. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying. Usually it's granted. So never say never.

Never say never. Okay. Could be a phenomenal comeback. Listen, the opportunity to wrestle with my son or sons, that'd be pretty cool. How many of your sons want to wrestle? Well, my oldest son is, I think he's getting a,

he got bit by the bug a little bit, seen his brother come out on his debut. And I think there might be a chance that, you know, at some point you'll see them tagging together once he's done with baseball. So we'll see. Okay. Wow. I would surprise me if my daughter got into it because she watches wrestling all the time.

So there could be four more. And all their initials are also AJ. Yeah. So there could be four more AJ styles on the way. Well, you've got one already, you know, AJ or Avery styles. Yeah. So he's out there. So my oldest son is A.J.

So like his name. His name is spelled A.J. Yeah. So he could be A.J. I guess. I don't know if that'd be weird for a lot of people. Like, oh, we're going to see AJ. Who's this guy?

Yeah. Spells his name. How does he spell it? A.J.A.Y. A.J.A.Y. And if you're Indian, you're probably A.J. All right. That's the way they say it.

Yeah. So when people are done listening to this podcast, where can they go find yours? My podcast, phenomenally retro. It's out there. I mean, I'm always tweeting about it. So it's easy to find on YouTube and other platforms. Apple, Spotify, wherever someone's listening is right now. Also, I'm starting up a new one.

Beyond the Matches and More, which I think could be very interesting. It's bringing in superstars or maybe comedians or Chris Van Lee. I'm going to be on your show. Dude, I don't see why not. Return the favor. Do as much as you know about wrestling to see what is it that your favorite. match is. What is the one that made you fall in love with wrestling? That's what I want to know. And we can watch it together. You were in one of them. Well, there you go. So they'll be able to

go and pick that apart and talk about it and understand each other why you got to this point. Dude, you've had so many amazing interviews with so many great wrestlers. Like, at what point, at what match made you realize this is what you wanted to do was being on a podcast interview? these guys. And it's not just wrestlers. I know you've done other many things, but like, I'm so lucky to get to do this. And like it started as me being an entertainment reporter and TV hosts interviewing some of the biggest stars on the planet. And then when wrestling would come to town, when WWE or TNA would come to town, I would get to like merge my two passions. I love pro wrestling. I'm passionate about broadcasting. I'm going to get paid to talk to a wrestler. That's where it started.

So it was like 12 months a year of interviewing the biggest celebrities on the planet actors and comedians and directors, musicians. And then once or twice a year, someone from TNA, someone from Raw SmackDown, that's where it began. And then it started to evolve into like, hey, I'm asking questions. I legitimately want to know the answer to as a fan. And if we're going back 15, 20 years when I started doing this, not really that many people had access.

I was fortunate to work on TV and have the access to, like, get in the door and say, we're going to air this on TV, but also I'm going to, like, geek out with you as a fan. That's kind of where it began and then just, like, took on a life of its own. And I'm so, so fortunate to be able to sit across from people like you. Well, and you've got, like, again, you do, you have so many great questions that people go, oh, yeah, I was hoping to ask him that question. Like, that's what people want to hear for you to be able to do it so long. I mean, that says a lot about you and your research.

and everything that you're doing, like, you're pretty good at it, is all I'm saying. Well, that means a lot coming from you. That is a phenomenal compliment. Oh, there you go. And for someone like you to want to come back onto the show, that also means the world to me. Oh, well, dude, I'm going to be honest with you. A lot of people see the show, so it keeps me back at it. Not why I did the show. It's just a really cool guy to sit down and talk to and reminisce about certain things. But again, you're very professional and be able to come on your show as an honor. You already know this, but you're one of my favorite wrestlers ever, so that means the world

will be coming from you. So thank you. You're very welcome. Thank you for doing this as well. Absolutely. Congratulations on an absolutely incredible career. Maybe your answers have changed this time, but I'm going to ask you the same question I asked you to end the last interview.

What are three things right now today, AJ, that you're grateful for? I am grateful for a forgiving God, for a family that loves me, and to have such an amazing career. A.J. Stiles, ladies, gentlemen. Did that change from the last time I asked? I don't know. I don't know either. Thank you so much, man. Thanks, man.

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