Insight with Chris Van Vliet - AJ Styles On Retiring Soon, His Phenomenal Career in WWE & TNA, The Undertaker, John Cena

Episode Date: March 4, 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 to discuss 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!Quote I'm thinking about: "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today." – Franklin D. RooseveltPlease 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 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/cvvROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvvHUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.com 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 at https://bluechew.com RHONE: Rhone’s premium performance clothing is made to move you. Use code CVV to save 20% at https://www.rhone.com/CVV MANSCAPED: Get 20% off plus free shipping when you use the code CHRISVAN at https://manscaped.com PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.comFor more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.comIf 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 Fleet. Uh, yes, welcome back to another one here on Inside. I'm CVV. Chris Van Fleet, thank you for being with us on this one. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Hit a phenomenal forum on that follow button on Apple or Spotify or wherever you're listening right now. So you don't miss out on any of the fantastic. nominal interviews that we have coming up.

How was your weekend? We have a lot to talk about on Ask CVV this Friday after Elimination Chamber. Oh, man. Who saw that coming? Wow. What a weekend back home in Toronto. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to the two Insight live shows that we had. It was an absolute blast with Natty on Friday and on Sunday with the Hurt Syndicate.

and if you're going to be in Las Vegas for WrestleMania, you don't want to miss our next live show. It's April 17th at 8 p.m. Grab your tickets at CVVVTX.com. That's CVVTX.com. All right, today's guest has been a long time coming. If you've listened to the show for any length of time,

you know I love me some TNA. Oh, so good. I specifically love like 2005 to like 2009-ish TNA and A.J. Stiles was my guy. He had a Hall of Fame career in TNA. He's having a Hall of Fame career with just the stuff he's done in WWE alone. Like it's two specific Hall of Fame careers. I love it. And he has one heck of a great guy. And it was amazing seeing him return at the Royal Rommel after an injury that he told me could have been career ending. So we talk about his incredible career, some of his most memorable moments and matches, and just at the heart of it, like what makes AJ Styles tick? What is he all about? And I think you're going to love this. This is one of my favorite interviews that I've ever done. Snap a screenshot. Tag us, let us know you're listening. Let us know what really spoke to you from this one. He's at AJ Styles. He won on social media. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go.

Ladies and gentlemen, the phenomenal A.J. Stiles. We are 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. Yep.

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. 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, 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's it'll mess with you but three months after the injury you're back crazy right like but and then you haven't lost a step you know uh 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 the step yeah you know uh but it's it took a toll on me like there's it's it's still um because i go out there and i'm listen And 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 to 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 limping 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. 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 it was 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 something, 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. 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 your 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. 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 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 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 found for wrestling? I really didn't have a clue, to be honest with you.

You know, as a kid, you're like 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. So 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? 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

in time we're going to independent matches, you know, in little barns and 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? Two thousand. 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. 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 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. 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 star 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 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 development? Well, so it was after WCW went under, right? So I'd been under contract with WCW for five months. Johnny A's calls me and said, WWE's not picking up your contract. It 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

53rd anniversary and I believe that was in Petersburg Florida does that sound right Peter Bird anyway somewhere down in Florida yeah and

some Japanese guys are going to be though 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. 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 quit. And we just,

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, 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 a week. The same amount of money I was making at my bottled water job, you know, and I'm going to have to pay a lot more taxes on that $500 than I'm making. And I'm, you know, and I'm just thinking all this stuff in my head, 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 it, 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 around. But she's just crazy to think. You were saying no to WWA 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 do 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 the 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, we're the right guy watching. Yeah. And, you know, surely have that. Now I'm with TNA. So I'm going up, I think it was every Wednesday.

Was every Wednesday for, what, $999? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, again, I'm not. 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 Carters came in and kind of picked that thing up. And then after about three months of being on NWA, TNA, 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 so much. You know, such a nice guy, you know, and I was, thank God he wasn't some of these other heroes that other guys I met, but mine was freaking awesome. That was Sting. 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. You know, I think that one, that one helped a lot. Because it was, 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 Kizarian and Amazing Red, like the talent that was around. Low-key. The middle of 2000s was in St. Sanjay died, like so many talented, insanely talented people. Chris Sabin, Alex. Shelly, like 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 pillar, 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. England, and it was a big show, and Kurt and I, you know, we're wrestling, and he's like, 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 it'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 compared to what it was. I was like, oh, I could take. And right then and there, as pissed off as I was about going to a square. ring and abandoning the six-sided 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 ring? Yeah, that's it, because that's who we were. Yeah. When you saw TNA and you saw a six-sided ring, you know, 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 in a certain extent when they went to, you know, just a regular ring just like everybody else. It was a few things. It was the six-sided ring. And the way the camera moved on the jib, nobody was doing that at that point in time. Yeah. The camera would move all the way around. Like on the dark. 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 their, then their production's always better, you know, But, you know, if I were running a company and 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 in triple threads, but we've wrestled each other. We know each other. 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, you know, 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 X-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. And 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 Joe's move. I can call Christopher Daniels moves.

I can call all their moves to them. You know, 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 in 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 it? Like, I don't know. It just was. It's because all those little things in between that make them. 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 tried to make it as pretty, as I can't. And I got the same reaction had I just jumped over the top rope and then a crazy flip. I said, wait a minute. If that's all I have to do, let me make sure that I, you know, make the little things look like they're effortless and beautiful. And rather than do a 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, I'm just, I'm a little scared that I can't pull it off the way 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 have. 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 that they're coming off. I don't want twist. I want a peek. I want to peek. and the intern. So it's a little bit different. So there's a stalling involved to make it look beautiful and then go. But I kind of lost it, man. How did you realize you could even do it? Wow. That's, 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. I like, all right. I'll just, and they, and so they asked me if I wanted to do shooting spartners.

I said, no, no, no, I won't do it. Because it's Kidman's move. I'll just do something that he can't. That's how I came up with the spiral tap. Wow. 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. always love the backflip into the 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, WWW, 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 Dead 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 with the back. Flip, slop drop. Yeah. Doesn't sound as cool, I know, but I think it was the style in DDT. Maybe that's what it was called. But, you know, I was never, I had a couple moves. where I've told, you know, guys the name of it. They were like, what?

Why don't you, like, yeah, they want me to name it something else. I'm like, sorry, man. 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 sloth. poppy 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 could work anybody. Joe would, 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, uh, people be intimidated by Joe. And I was like, have you ever worked him? They go, no, dude. Let me.

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, this 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 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 at 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 too. 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. So. 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. Wait, you know. And so. The contract ended in 2014. Yes. And you debuted at the Rumble 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 in the show's 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, they keep buttoned heads. So it just kind of fell apart. And when it fell apart, they 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. 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. You were the face of TNA. 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 last dates. You really are. Plus the same amount of travel and everything. So I was like, it was one of those things.

I was like, man, the same. in 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, what's Big John's last name? 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'm 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 T&A, if I don't work, I don't get paid. That's how that works. 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, I was, 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. That's 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 just, no, 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. It 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 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 it different part of AJ Styles. Be a little goofy, do a little goofy things with Christian and then Kurt Angle and all that stuff that we did, I was good television to me, you know,

as much as people hate it, 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 P.D. Williams, which I think is a fantastic match. It is. If you've ever watch back. Yep. For some reason, I thought there was such a good idea that if I could hang from the rope and Sabin 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 as I'm coming down I was able to think to myself I'm about to

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 land perfect and I 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 the back of my head. I'd have been out cold for sure. Prize Picks is the best place to get real money sports action with over 10, million members and billions of dollars in awarded winnings, prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 1,000 times your cash.

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Run your Dincite. game. So look, wrestling fans love a great movie about wrestling. Have you seen the trailer yet for Queen of the Ring? This tells the incredible true story of Mildred Burke, a single mother from the Midwest who had one dream, and that was to become a professional wrestler. But this was the 1930s, and women's wrestling was outlawed across the country. That didn't stop Mildred. She defied the odds, she trained in secret, and she fought her way to the top, proving that women did belong in the ring. And she made history by becoming a champion and paving the way for every woman in wrestling today. It stars Emily Betrecards and Walton Goggins. You'll also see some familiar faces in there

like Tony Storm, Camille, Naomi, and Jim Cornette. Make sure you watch Queen of the Ring when it opens up in theaters nationwide on March 7th. 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 to 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.

But because it was me and James Storm that got up there and started fighting, I believe. Yeah. And I remember James being like, dude, what if we were. go through it. Not if we go through the top of the cage. I was 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 TN. You've done insane stuff in WWE, too. But did you ever have an idea where you're like,

man, 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 P.E. and I, P.D. Williams 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 yanked me back. Instead of up, I went back. And so I just ate that gargrail. 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 didn't look like it. Like, I was okay with it. And I'll tell you this. That match, Rino was scheduled to lose. I was like, 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. He'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. Like, holy crap, that was way up there. And you've 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 do 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... Kurt Engel. 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. He'll deliver us, no. Yeah.

Yeah. runs together, you know, but it was just some 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. Oh, 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. You know, I'm biased, though. That's fine. Because I'm going to 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 a lot of people would see Kurt because he was there for the long God. 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 WW. 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. He, I mean, we're talking about, like,

low-key was unbelievable, like, to see this guy. And there's so many Chris Sabin. James Storm. Chris Harris, even, like, they were a big part of the growth. Think of the moments Elyke Skipper had? Beer money? Beer money? I mean, he looked Skipper.

I'll tell you this story. I remember he walked the cave. 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 Elix sitting up 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 Overray has 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 Tenae and Don West. Oh, wow. Yeah. 100%. One hundred percent. Mike Tene's, it's Mike today. It's a legend.

I mean, right. Like he knew it. And Don, not knowing exactly what to do, but learning. and 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 off 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 WWA? So, I think I just burped. Anyway, so a lot of people didn't know this, but, uh,

Smojo 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, Shinskay's leaving.

I was like, really? Shinskay is the number two guy there by far. Tana Hashi, you know, Shinn. So I was like, I talked to the boys. I go, I think it's time to pack up. 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 Gallows and Anderson?

you know and we started talking we had a meeting with they wanted to just sign something you know I think we we may have signed something to say that this is it was no it couldn't hold us to anything it was just saying that we agreed to pay this much and 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 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?

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 Stiles and WW is this a possible? He 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 Triple H. And he had, see if he called and said, you know, I guess he emanates talking at Triple H can be called. Went by, you know, mother, whatever. Terry calls, yeah, you talk the Triple H of him. 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.

Nothing. 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 and Anderson and he goes I don't know if we're interested in them I just I think we're I said 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 WWB, Gallows and Anderson, we were kind of going over a match in New Japan, in a room, like, and 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 he's like what was he doing? I thought we're going to and it because I saw this. Oh no.

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. 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 everything they were able to provide and the business they did it was amazing no better place that I've been to that to that point right but you know changes were made and within that I mean I I wrestled the 6th of January the The fifth was Russell Kingdom? I think this right. Fifth and then maybe the same.

I don't know what it's. It's the sixth every year, is it? Is it the sixth or fifth or sixth or something like that? Who knows? We'll find. They'll tell us. Wrestling in Corgan Hall. Kenny Omega and, you know, the rest of the bullet club beat me up.

Oddly enough, maybe it's fifth. Gallows, I think you're right. I think you're right. Gallus 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 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, are in WWE. But like I said, did we decide whether it on the fifth or six? Either way. The first week of January.

I came home to Atlanta, at 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, you know. 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, you know, 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. T&A, 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 in love 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 what was a cool moment, though, is that you, you guys made so much noise. the folks at home were like, what is it? Who is it? 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 happen?

Oh, yeah. Oh, I just knew I wasn't going to have a WrestleMania moment. I was never going to have one. And I was okay with it. I dealt with that. Just because 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 paid anything, I probably wouldn't be wrestling. 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 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, 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 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 and it's going to go you're going to get the

what they call the what the hell effect and 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 yes yes yes and you just go down that road right and so So I, my buddy who I've known for 40 years, so 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 plunge. 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 and worked out with him, and it was terrible. That 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 a cold blund. Oh, 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 today.

If I work out, I will cold plunge 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. Like, 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, 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 part. 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 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 blue 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 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. Like, 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. It's 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. You know what? The worst time to get the cold plunge 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. But if you can get used to being uncomfortable, yeah. It's not that hard to be uncomfortable. Some of the best things in life are hard.

And I think they're supposed to. 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 just.

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. GDP has the power cuffs. Yes. I've worked out with him a bunch with the power cuffs. Makes a difference, doesn't it? And you also, it makes a huge difference. But you're like, I would normally curl like 30s, 30s, he's like, let's pick up tens. 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.

Yeah. 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, you don't know,

I mean, And 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 Styles. For whatever reason, I'm sure I gave him a lot of reasons. I'm not the tallest guy.

I 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. 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 looked, is I got a thousand guys 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 up Ms? or 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 was stuff with Jericho, right? Jericho. And then Indicina. Was it Roman? Was it Roman? Was it Roman? You know better than that. Well, it was it, 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? I think 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 Russell 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, you know, you 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, uh, 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'd 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, you know, I've never won any of those. So there's some stuff out there,

but, you know, it's not the, end of the world if I if I haven't I don't see it that way I don't I don't have to win stuff I just have to I just want to be you know a guy like one other the guys I would love to work AJ why I'm 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 is 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 play know 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 he was, and if you don't know who Red is and you don't know how to take his moves, it's going to be lousy.

And it was terrible. But after that, I knew Amazing Red very well. We had amazing matches after that. 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 forgive 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 in 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 McMann we're 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?

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 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 year actually achieve your New Year's resolutions. This is your year to feel your best, regain your energy and conquer your goals. No matter what your goals are for 2025, this supplement can help because it supports your health at the foundation by encouraging cellular renewal.

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clinically proven to rejuvenate health at the cellular level. Timeline is offering 33% off your order of mitopure while supplies last. Go to timeline.com slash Insight 3-3. That's timeline, t-I-M-E-L-I-N-E dot com slash Insight 3-3. You're so right the wrestling's about the moments. What's your WrestleMania moment? Wow. 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 a hundred and one thousand people your first WrestleMania is it so shabby yeah but but the 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 it look like if the world

wasn't shut down you weren't able to do a cinematic match oh man would you would you have had a traditional match oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah I And I thought, 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 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 fun. The, the meme of the decade, you know. So, like, that one, that one meant a lot to me, too, man. I'll tell you the one of the coolest things is, is, I was like, man, what do I, what do I give this guy as a gift to say, to say thank you? And did you know that was his last match? I didn't know if it was last match, but I thought it could be,

and 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. Um, well, a couple weeks after that, his, he had given me his gloves. So I have the Undertaker's gloves that he wrestled in his last match. And I think that's pretty freaking cool. Yeah. You know, um, so the opportunity for we, you know, if we could have done that in the ring, what could it have been? I don't know.

But maybe 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. 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.

So to have that match with him was pretty amazing. Yeah. 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, And do you think about how much longer you can do this? Oh, man. I've thought about a lot, 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 so hard because you enjoy it so much. And I enjoy being around my friends. 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 like Roman for instance like man his his selling is on a different level he's like changed Jay Uso Jimmy Uso all these guys they stepped up you know it however who if Roman stepped up they stepped up with you I just thought that was so impressive that they do that and in seeing them grow into these amazing big superstar

gone through, you know, losing all that weight to get to where he's at. Now it's 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 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, 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 well 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 50s. 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 bunny talks. But you haven't lost a step. That's the thing. I think I had it. You look better than ever. I think I had 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 as used 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, but the stamina. So I really try to make sure that I 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. You know, I don't want to be tired trying to, you know, 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, 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 and 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. 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 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. If you came back to get ready to find out, 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 that song. There's a partnership now at 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. You know they played that theme song, what was that, four or five years ago, when Swagel came out dressed his year. The Wenominal man, we nominal man. The We Nominal One, that's what it was.

Oh, yeah. Galz and I was an editor tell you about it. Do you know how many hardcore TNA fans, myself included, were going, no, AJ's here? And then Swagel comes down right. Oh, he's literally not here. We nominal one. Which is pretty hilarious. But seeing you in TNA in 2025 would be a.

amazing. So I went up and visited as they were in Atlanta, maybe a month or two go. Frankie Kazerman was 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, Christy. Like, those are 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. man, these guys are really doing something. So it's exciting to see. And I hope that we continue to work with TNA, WWE, and help them as much as they're helping us, because, you know, NXT talent being shown TNA and vice versa. 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? You know, like, because we were all conditioned to believe that nothing other than WWE existed, if you were in WW, nothing existed.

That's the thing is that Vince had no idea who I was, no clue. So that's true. That's a real thing? Yeah, he'd had no idea. He had never watched an AJ Styles match? Never. I promise you. He's never watched any matches outside of WW, because nothing else existed except for

WWE. 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 have to, you know, I don't know, just like evolve. And, and I, and I, and I, and, I, 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 T&A to maybe get an opportunity?

And that's just helping T&A get bigger stars and whatnot, maybe get more money in the 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 them.

Omas was just in Noah. Yeah. 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. Yeah. Getting up and walking in the morning, you know, getting my couple of, 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, whew, 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 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, go, oh, yeah. 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 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. 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. You have every video game. But I find myself playing retro games now. What? Some street fighters, you know, just old street fighters. Street Fighter 2 is 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. You know, 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. play as when you play street fighter. Ken, I can answer that pretty quick. But Ken and Ryu have the same move set. Well, I mean, the Dragon Punch is more of Ken and 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 getting, 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 it 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 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, is she 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 sensor. And so when the light comes on, I'm like, ah, so yeah. Are you talking trash to people when you're playing?

No, not at all. I don't. I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I usually just play about 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 are hurt. Okay. Or maybe you're like, didn't land that quite right. I remember I apologized to Kofi the first time I did the springboard 450. I said, man, I think I came down on you a little hard on that.

I apologize. And he's like, oh, no, it's fine because Kofi's awesome. But I thought it was a little tight. 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, 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 throw them in Japan

because they don't make any noise. You can hear them. Loved it. You can't hear anything in WW. 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 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 BSE, blood sweat and ears. You worked Eric Young in 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 seven photo. Like, you've got the short hair and you're clean shave. I've got this ridiculous pukeshell 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? Born in 77. 77. Yeah, so 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, 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 go.

I didn't say with JJ's style now. 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. It was in Peterborough, Ontario. Bobby Ruud's hometown, actually. Oh, okay. I was a news reporter on Checks 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 was, 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.

while, WWE or TNA would come to town and we'd 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 Slimp, 1998 or whatever. And I would like try to work that question in. Oh, yeah. But the thing about most, I would think most wrestlers is like, oh, this guy 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 be 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 Jeff Harvey, Jeff Hardy here.

You know what I mean? So true. It's so true. Tell us about the Chamber of Elimination. What is this thing? I 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, we have our ideas that we're going to do.

You're talking points. Yeah. We just put it out there. It's not really an interview. It just, we're just there. 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.

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, I guess Batista's up there, right? The biggest star that you've ever interviewed.

Would you say, is it Batista? Rock, it means Rock bigger? Yeah, but he is. 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 Six. So 2018. Dude, that's... It was at the world premiere. It was. It was at the world premiere. It was. 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 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. So he's five people away. All right. So that's like two minutes each to 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, it's us. So I just learned something. So I want to make sure, I think 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? Oh, she's crazy, right? I said we were going to talk for an hour. Yeah. You're like, that's it. But where, 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 kids, you know, doing something. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you

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 is such an important part of my life. I wake up every day. I say, I allow the 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,

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 like you. I'm grateful for so many things.

And I know you're more than grateful for three things, but you've got to make sure these are the ones. And I get that for sure. Yeah. And there are 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. What is it? What did 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 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 details and their birthdays

you know and they're probably as they get older what a stupid tattoo dad that's really looks you're 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 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, okay. All right. Let's do our interview. Okay, there we go. That was a big one for me personally. I love AJ Stiles in the ring.

And when you get to know AJ Styles, even just a little bit as a human, like through this conversation here, it's impossible not to respect him for who he is. And from what he said during this interview, sounds like we maybe only have like two years left of seeing him wrestle. He turns 48 in June, June 2nd, to be exact,

And he says that he doesn't want to wrestle in his 50s. So we really got to take advantage of every time we see AJ out there and just appreciate the incredulness, the awesomeness, the phenomenalness. Is that a word? It is now. But I just think we really need to appreciate how amazing AJ Styles is. I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did. Snap a screenshot.

Let us know you're listening and tag us so we can share it. He's at AJ Styles P1 on Instagram. He's at AJ Styles org on Twitter. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And we'll end this with this quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt. The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today. Be great. Be grateful.

Have an amazing day. We'll see you back here on Thursday with Will Osprey. Jim Rome takes on sports Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air.

It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.