AJ Styles Interview with Fighting Spirit Magazine.

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SOMETHING LIKE A PHENOMENON Matt Barnes

He's got more hangtime than Michael Jordan and enough workrate to frighten Ric Flair. We talk to the greatest flyer of his generation, TNA's phenomenal AJ Styles…

FSM: Thanks for talking to us AJ. How are you enjoying life in TNA at the moment? AJ Styles: Man, it’s awesome. The main thing for me right now, aside from the wrestling, is working on this videogame [Midway’s TNA Impact!] and getting it finished up. It’s the most exciting thing going on for me right now, just because I’m a big, crazy videogame fanatic, but I’m having fun in all aspects of TNA.

FSM: Obviously you’re a huge gamer, so what was cooler for you – being an action figure, or being in a videogame?
AJ: (Without hesitation) It’s the videogame, man. My parents bought me a Nintendo Entertainment System back when I was about nine, ten years old, and I’ve been an addict ever since. I can’t tell you how honoured and excited I am to be in this game and to work on it.

FSM: It’s the culmination of a lot of things for TNA. How rewarding is it for you, as someone who was there from the shaky start in 2002, to be doing videogames and global tours in 2008?
AJ: You know what, it’s just about time that we started doing it. Going from one pay-per-view a week and hoping you still had a job the next, to coming over to sell-out shows in England… it’s just freaking great! The stuff we’d hoped would happen has finally come, and we’re so proud of what TNA has become.

FSM: It must mean a lot to you to be working a high-profile programme with Kurt Angle, too.
AJ: It’s really cool. I think this is something that the fans wanted to see, to see where it’s going, and I think they will be happy with where it’s gonna be – I think they’ll be pleasantly surprised with what’s about to happen. It was just one of those things, what with Karen willing to do what she’s doing – and who would have thought she was going to be such a great actor?
She’s had no experience whatsoever, except for being the wife of Kurt Angle, and she just played along with everything we did and it worked out great. And you know, of course, Kurt – I told him when I was going to kiss Karen that I was going to come backstage and give him the same kiss, but he denied the offer!
But everyone’s working together and having a good time doing it, and I’ve gotta tell you that, of all the wrestling I’ve done, I’ve had more response and compliments for what Karen and I have done than for anything else. Also, I think Kurt and I are going to put some classic matches together.

FSM: You recently worked a show with Kurt in Korea, which is where he re-injured his neck (see page . Did you see what happened?
AJ: We were both in Korea, and Kurt wrestled an older wrestler who was actually retiring, and for some reason this guy decided that he was going to pick Kurt up for a body slam and drop him right on the top of his head. It was one of those scary moments where, y’know, I being the only American over there was going, “Oh my God!”
I was about to run out there and make sure he was okay when I heard him say something to the ref, so it was like, “Okay, if he gets through this, he might be alright”. But he’s hurt right now because out it, y’know. But it’s just part of wrestling, part of the risk. You never know who you might be wrestling – especially when you can’t even talk to the guy, because he’s Korean, so he doesn’t speak any English.
It happens, but it was still a scary moment, and Kurt’s still not out of the water. He’s gotta get in there and wrestle a little bit to make sure that neck’s alright before we go out there.

FSM: Kurt’s body has taken so much punishment over the years. You’re one of the best athletes in the business, and you’ve won our Zero G Award two years running, but obviously that style takes its toll on your body. Do you see yourself toning down your style as the years go on or is it a case of, “If I can’t fly, it’s time to hang up the wings”?
AJ: I’m going to do it as long as it makes sense. That’s one thing I’ve learned; that there is no point doing something high-risk if there’s not a reason. You know, as long as I can put that in a storyline, I’m going to keep doing it. Regardless of the toll that it takes on my body, that’s who I am and that’s how I’m going to wrestle. If I can’t do that style as I get older then, hopefully, I’ll be able to change it up – like Jushin Liger did. But if I can’t, then it’s time to hang ‘em up.

FSM: Going back to the start of your career, NWA Wildside was a breeding ground for guys like yourself, Abyss, Hernandez, Matt Sydal, Jimmy Rave… Why was it such a successful “developmental territory”?
AJ: I think there’s just a lot of great guys that go through there. Matt Sydal, this guy’s just a tremendous athlete, and he was going to excel anywhere he went. Jimmy Rave was another guy that came up with me, and Abyss and I were having classic matches there before he even was Abyss. I can’t really put my finger on it why – maybe it was the atmosphere that made guys want to work harder and to learn from each other.
Bill Behrens, who’s now involved with TNA and was then involved with NWA Wildside, he had a big part in who we are and what we’ve become. He brought in some of the best guys, and even the storylines were pretty good for an indy show! I think it was combination of guys who wanted to learn and who wanted to learn from each other.

FSM: WWE has FCW as its training facility, but it seems that the days of wrestlers travelling and working the independents to perfect their craft is gone – WWE is just signing guys, putting them all in the same place and teaching them all the same thing. We already see the effects of bland, green guys on WWE TV – do you see a problem coming with a generation of guys who don’t know how to work?
AJ: You know what, it’s funny you should say that, because I was just talking about this the other day. That’s what makes TNA different from WWE – they’re teaching these guys the same moves, and so everybody does the same moves and there’s nothing spectacular. There’s just all these different looking guys, all doing the same moves.
The great thing about TNA is that pretty much all these guys went out on the indy scene and have learned from other guys, so they want to change things up and they want to keep it fresh. That’s the essence of TNA: keeping it fresh. You never know what these crazy guys are gonna do, and that’s what keeps people coming in and it’s what makes us different.

FSM: You famously turned down a developmental deal with WWE before making yourself a star on the indies and in TNA. Where do you think your career would be today if you had taken that deal?
AJ: Honestly, if I would’ve taken that deal, I would’ve moved to Cincinnati for about two, maybe three months, and they probably would’ve released me when they shut down in Cincinnati. That’s what I think would’ve happened – I don’t think they would have kept me. You never know, but the fact remains that I wouldn’t have been near the guy I am now in wrestling if I’d went there.

FSM: Of course, if you’d gone to WWE we would never have seen your amazing Ring Of Honor matches with Paul London. What do you make of what WWE has done with Paul?
AJ: I think, honestly, if Paul and I would have got in there in WWE, they would have been mad at us at the end of the match, because we’d have stolen the show from some of these other guys. That’s what would’ve happened. “Tone it down!” “Don’t do anything off the top rope!” That’s what would have happened. Paul is an amazing athlete and I wish that we had him down here, but things work out the way they will. But, hopefully, that’s not the end – hopefully we’ll see Paul back in TNA. You never know, man, you never know. Never say never.

FSM: ROH has expanded considerably, running PPVs and international shows, but the success has been somewhat mixed. Do you think that a pure wrestling product can ever find a mass audience?
AJ: You know what I think it is? I think Ring of Honor wanted to take that extra step to get on pay-per-view and show people what they can really do, which turned out maybe to not be the greatest thing, because a lot of their money is made on DVDs.
So, from a business perspective, maybe that wasn’t the best idea, but you never know if you don’t take a chance – billionaires are billionaires because they took chances. But it’s still there, and there are still people that are huge followers of Ring of Honor. We were just talking the other day about how great the name “Ring of Honor” actually is. You can say “ROH”, but it’s not something wrestling; there’s just something special about that name.
You talked about NWA Wildside and it was the same thing, but at a totally different level at Ring Of Honor; you had to step it up, you had to make people make notice. That’s exactly what a lot of us did, and there are still people there doing that. They have some of the best athletes up there, and they’re still crazy, and that’s where they’ll be at for as long as they continue to run.

FSM: You were part of the new breed of cruiserweights in WCW. We hear all the time from veterans like Hogan and Jericho what a mess it was, but as a young guy just starting out on the national scene, what were your impressions of the company?
AJ: Everybody says it was a mess, but heck, I didn’t know whether it was a mess or not – I was just happy to be there. Definitely it’s not the same locker room that you see today in TNA; guys had their own rooms and they had their own locker rooms. That’s just weird.
But we’re all on the same page here, pretty much – we hang out, and I feel like I can talk to anyone here, where I was definitely intimidated by some of the guys in WCW, because they didn’t look like they wanted to talk to you. In the end, man, I wish I could tell you how it really was, but I was just so happy to be there. Then again, it only lasted three months anyway! (Laughs)

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FSM: What are your memories of working the XWF pilot shows? With its focus on cruiserweights and the fact that it taped at Universal Studios, it was in many ways the precursor to TNA.
AJ: Well, I can tell you what I remember from the XWF, and that is seeing what I thought was Hulk Hogan’s last match. But that definitely was not the case! (Laughs) But, hey man, if they can do their thing and make a little money from what I did, then God bless them. They took a chance, and they paid me for it, so I have no complaints for that. I guess the only thing I wish is that I’d looked a little bit better and had a little bit better psychology. But it is what it is, and I learned from it.

FSM: Coming back again to TNA, we know that Vince Russo is a good friend of yours. How long have you known Vince, and what is your personal and professional take on him?
AJ: Vince and I really got to know each other well at the beginning of TNA. It was not exactly at the beginning – it was about the time of TNA’s one-year shows, and he kind of became AJ Styles’ mentor, so I got to know him a little bit better when I won the World Title for the first time.
That’s when I first got to know him, and with our faiths we got to really spend some time together, so we got to know each other personally. We’ve got a great relationship in every sense. I think he’s a great guy, and I think he takes a lot of flak from some of these fans who don’t know that Vince isn’t the only writer here.
Just because you see some things you don’t like, it doesn’t mean that he wrote it. That’s not to say that he hasn’t wrote some stuff, but who’s to say that they haven’t done something stupid that doesn’t make any sense? You know, I don’t really know how to explain it, man – you’re danged if you do and you’re danged if you don’t.

FSM: Friendships aside, what is your take on the creative direction of TNA at the moment?
AJ: The storylines? Personally, for me, I think my storylines are getting better and we’re going to give people what they want to see. Fine, they got the goofy AJ Styles and they got their laughs, but now they’re going to get the wrestling. The AJ Styles they love is coming back.
I’m excited about that, and I hope that they are too. Lots of fans have said, “I miss the old AJ Styles,” but the great thing about the new one is that now he’s got a personality, and it just adds to the character.

FSM: One criticism of TNA recently has been the fact that too many former WWE stars have been pushed ahead of homegrown, long-serving TNA talent such as yourself. What’s your response to that?
AJ: Well, I understand why these guys are at a different level. It’s easy to see when Booker T comes out, because the fans go crazy. It is what it is, and you gotta go with some guys who pull more fans in there – I understand that. At the same time, I’m going to keep doing my thing and they’re going to take notice of AJ Styles.
Whatever grows the company is the best thing to do. It gets frustrating sometimes, because I’ve been here from the beginning, but by the same token, I’ve gotta be professional, understand the reasons behind it and keep moving forward with the company.

FSM: It’s fair to say that the X Division went through a rough patch a little while ago, but now it’s come back to life somewhat with the likes of Shark Boy and Curry Man. What do you make of where the division is heading these days?
AJ: Well, you got guys in there like Frankie Kazarian, who can be a heavyweight or an X Division guy. The Motor City Machine Guns – it’s just freaking amazing, the stuff that those guys can do. And Curry Man is the most entertaining and he can wrestle.
It’s like it used to be, if you want the truth. Not only do you have these great athletes but you also have their characters, such as Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt – “The Guru”. They created these characters to go with the wrestling, and it just keeps getting better from there.

FSM: Do you see yourself returning to X Division competition in the future, or are your sights set more on another World Title shot?
AJ: Um… I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again, but who knows where I’ll be? It’s the heavyweight thing right now and, the older I get, the more I seem to put on weight! It’s like I’m getting the old man strength coming in, so I don’t know if I’ll be under the 200-pound mark anyway. But, (laughs) the good thing about the X Division is it’s not about weight limits!

FSM: TNA has enjoyed a hugely successful UK tour, but the first time British fans saw you was in the FWA, back in 2002. You’ve been a fairly frequent visitor here ever since. What are your memories of your time in the FWA, wrestling the likes of Jonny Storm and Jody Fleisch, and from your perspective what sort of changes have you noticed on the UK scene in the last five years?
AJ: I’ll say this: when it comes to Jody and Jonny, man, those guys are awesome. I’ve known them for a long time, ever since I first wrestled in the FWA. A lot of people don’t know that they were originally looking to bring in Kid Kash. But one of my best, best friends, Tony, said, “Hey, bring in AJ Styles,” because they kept bringing in Kid Kash, and they were really like, “I don’t know”, and I will never forget that.
That was one of the best nights of my life. Jonny and I had a great match, he made me look like a million bucks, and I got to see how England appreciates wrestling. I had never experienced that before, so it was just a great night, and like I said, Jody and Jonny are just freaking amazing.
Doug Williams is another guy you can put into that category too, and I don’t know if I can let the cat out of the bag, but I think you’re going to see some Doug Williams in TNA very soon. [He has since debuted in the World X Cup.] That’s exciting for me, man, because I love Doug too.
As far as the wrestling in England – I wish I could see more of Jody and Jonny, because it feels like I haven’t seen them, or nearly as many other faces as I did four or five years ago, if that’s how long ago it was. I feel like an old man! There was definitely some new faces that I didn’t know last time I went over there, but I guess that’s just a progression of what’s to come.
You can’t have the same guys all the time, but hopefully they’ll learn from the guys like Jody and Jonny and Doug, especially. But then, there’s a chance you can go to other places – you don’t have to stay here in England to school yourself; you can go to Japan and TNA, and WWE, even…



For the rest of this feature, check out issue 29 of FSM – available at WH Smith and all good retailers. (For US readers we are now carried at Borders and Barnes & Noble, so check for local availability or click here to subscribe.)