wrestling / TV Reports

Stone Cold Podcast Report: AJ Styles Talks About His TNA Run, Coming to WWE and More

June 21, 2016 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
Image Credit: WWE

-Welcome one and all to another edition of the Stone Cold Podcast on the WWE Network. Hopefully, this one goes better as far as my feed not crapping out than the Foley/Shane one did. Before getting to Austin/Styles, it is my pleasure to mention that your 2016 Stanley Cup Champions are The Pittsburgh Penguins!

-The moment I type that my internet feed goes down, so I will be behind the “live” feed a few minutes. Sorry for any inconvenience.

-After much delay things are finally working on my end. Steve Austin welcomes to a live edition of the Stone Cold Podcast with AJ Styles. Austin takes time to congratulate the Cleveland Cavaliers for winning the NBA Title and gives a shout out to Kevin Love for wearing a Smoking Skull Belt and rocking an Austin 3:16 shirt on SportsCenter.

-Austin finally gives a proper welcome to AJ Styles and asks him how he is doing. Styles says he is doing better than he has any right at this point. Austin asks how he has been welcomed now 6 months into his WWE run and Styles says they have treated him like gold. It was at a point that he got too comfortable and had to take a step back. Austin gives him some advice in that when he gets Cena down again to make sure he lays it into him in grand style to take full advantage of the opportunity. Austin then apologizes for using a few 4 letter words.

-Styles talks about where it started for him and how he grew up in the home of a Marine. There was a lot of respect since his dad was a marine. He knew his dad loved him and his brothers, but says that is dad had a drinking problem. When he was drunk he was a terrible father and would take things out on his sons and his wife at times. Even with the bad times he knew his dad loved him. Austin asks if it was an all the time thin and AJ says that when he was drinking that anything could set him off. He doesn’t want to put his dad in a bad light, but he could go too far. He went off the handle too much and would break stuff in the house.

-Austin asks if it has done anything with the way he has raised his own kids. AJ says it certainly has and he has learned from his parents mistakes. He gets his “dad’s voice” from his father, but he mainly learned things he isn’t going to do with his own kids.

-Austin moves on to AJ as an athlete in school and he says he was in everything he could. He does say his Jr high school didn’t have a football team and that annoys Austin. He says his father loved sports and did all he could to make sure AJ played anything. Austin talks about how great AJ is inside the squared circle and if he was that great as a kid.

-AJ does have an amateur background in wrestling. The cornerback coach in football was also the head wrestling coach and he wanted AJ to give it a go. AJ wanted to quit after a week because of the conditioning and the coach told him to give him another week. AJ say there is no other conditioning like collegiate wrestling and Austin brings up Kurt Angle. They talk about the crazy training Kurt went through to get the Olympics and Austin says Angle always puts AJ over as one of the most talented wrestlers he has ever worked.

-Back to amateur wrestling and AJ was getting headbutted and lost. He faced the same guy a year later and AJ got thrown out of the match because he kept trash talking. The next year he faced the same guy again and this time he crushed him before getting the pin. Austin loves that story because it shows AJ has a mean streak and you need that to be successful.

-Austin brings up how AJ is a religious person. AJ says he turned his life around when he was a senior in high school. He went to a Baptist college and he didn’t feel right about hurting guys and he ended up not finishing college.

-Austin asks if AJ was a fan of pro-wrestling as he grew up. He says he did watch a little bit, but he didn’t have cable. Austin asks if he grew up poor and AJ says he grew up in a trailer and they were dirt poor. His parents weren’t good with money, and it was their life for a long time. That is the reason why when he accomplishes something he appreciates it so much. He is always amazed when he gets the mail and turns around to see his house knowing where he came from.

-Back to AJ dropping out of college and he says it was on Spring Break and he had no clue why he was even in school. He never liked it and realized he was only there because he had a scholarship. AJ didn’t have a plan B and he was dating a girl that he knew was the one so he want and got a regular job. Two of his friends came up and said they were going to be Pro-Wresters and AJ laughed, but said if they found a place he would go with them.

-He ended up going to a camp 20 minutes from his house and when he took his firs bump he knew this was for him and it was something he could do. His amateur background hurt him at first as he was trying to rip arms and heads off and obviously that is not the deal. AJ learned as he went what was important and what wasn’t. He barely had any training and within a month he was already working in the ring.

-Austin brings up flat back bumps being the litmus test and how some guys are allergic to the match. They were no problem for AJ and explains why he attacks the mat even to this day. AJ says his girlfriend at the time (who is now his wife) was a cheerleader. He learned a lot watching her doing competition cheerleading. He did some of the stuff with his wife and that is where he learned to do flips. He wasn’t afraid to do those things and he could do a Shooting Star Press so they threw him in the ring before he was ready.

-Austin brings up how he has heard that AJ made his debut as a masked wrestler named Mr. Olympia. AJ says it is true and that he did whatever he could so he could go out and wrestle in the ring. While working on his wrestling career, AJ was delivering bottled water on the side for income. He calls it a great job and he paid for his training by giving them free bottled water.

-Austin asks how long it took for AJ to learn more than just the mechanics. He admits the mechanics came easy and it took years for him to realize there was more than just wrestling. He finally started to piece things together when he got to sit down and talk to Terry Taylor. He can’t explain how much Taylor helped him and he has nothing but great things to say about him.

-Austin asks AJ if he considers himself a high flying cruiserweight and AJ says he feels he can adapt to any style depending on who he is wrestling and Austin agrees with that. Austin says he modeled himself after Flair when he started and then became a brawler after he got dropped on his head. He asks AJ if there was anyone he modeled himself after when he started out. He says that in the beginning he was attracted to athletic guys and names Lance Storm. As he got into the story of pro-wrestling he started to look up to Shawn Michaels because everything he did meant something.

-Austin goes back a bit and wants to talk about AJ’s wife. He wants to know what she thinks about AJ being a pro-wrestler and being gone all the time. Especially considering she was there way before AJ became someone famous with this lifestyle. AJ says his wife is awesome and that she is a good woman. It was difficult at first and brings up how she knew him before he was on the road. When they had their first child it wasn’t about the two of them and instead was about their son. His job was to provide for the kids and that is what made it easier. AJ was doing something he loved, but the main focus was providing for his family.

-Naturally, everything goes down on me again as I just a red screen on the Network feed instead of Austin and AJ Styles. Tremendous!

-Austin asks AJ where he was promotion wise at this time and mentions that AJ eventually ended up in WCW. AJ gets into WCW and they go out of business when WWE buys them. Austin asks if talent relations saw anything in him and AJ says obviously not. AJ says at that time he didn’t need to be in the WWE as he wasn’t ready. He thinks he would have fizzled out and it was all part of God’s plan.

-When WWE didn’t pick up his contract he made his mind up that he was going to work in Japan, but before that he did NWA show and that is where he met Christopher Daniels. He is the reason AJ started getting booked all over the world. He puts Daniels and calls him one of his best friends. He was then offered a developmental deal by WWE in 2002 when he had a match with Hurricane Helms. He went to a WWE Camp and was offered a developmental deal in Cincinnati. He had to think about it because his wife was in college and he didn’t feel right moving to Cinci at that time so he turned the deal down. His wife told him to go, but he couldn’t do it.

-TNA is actually brought up which is kind of amazing to hear considering they made of joke out of not being able to say it on the Edge and Christian show. AJ met Jeff Jarrett and as far as he knows he was the first guy they ever signed to a contract. For 6 months TNA was like another Independent and then soon he started taking pride in the company. Next thing he knew the company was slowly building to something big.

-Austin asks about AJ’s thoughts on Dixie Carter and this is getting crazy now. AJ talks about how Jarrett was still running things and he begged to him to bring Samoa Joe to the company. Austin drools over Joe and Styles talks about Christian coming on board and then marking out when Angle made the jump.

-Austin asks if AJ ever though TNA was viable competition to the WWE. At the time AJ thought they could be competition and that was the goal. They soon realized they needed to bust their tail and be competition to everything. Austin asks his thoughts on them bringing in Nash, Flair, Hogan, and Sting considering he was supposed to be their centerpiece. AJ says Dixie was probably a fan of the people she saw when she was younger, and AJ can see why she brought them in and that he also knows you can’t always be on top. He says that no matter who is on top if they are doing well then everyone else is doing well.

-Next Austin asks if AJ liked the 6 sided ring because it looked like a pain in the ass to work in to him. AJ felt the 6 sided ring made them different and he felt that was good. Hogan came in and changed to a 4 sided ring and AJ wasn’t a fan. He soon realized though how much safer and better it felt to work in the 4 sided ring as he took a took rope belly to belly from Kurt in the 6 sided ring and it sucked, but the 4 sided ring it felt like paradise.

-Austin wants to know about who and what is “The Phenomenal One.” AJ says that it is a guy who enjoys being in the ring and can pull off anything anywhere, anytime, any place. Austin puts over the mass he had last night with John Cena and had they had Vegas eating out of the palm of their hands. He loved that AJ was calm even with being out there with a guy like John Cena.

-Austin asks why he left TNA and Styles says it was because they wanted him to take a pay cut. He felt you should be paid what you are worth and AJ bet on himself that he it would be better to take on ROH and New Japan. Austin asks about working American crowds vs Japanese crowds. Styles says it is different because crowds in Japan aren’t as crazy.

-They discuss the Bullet Club and AJ talks about how he was Main Event as soon as he went and says it was because Finn Balor was leaving just as he was coming. He puts over Balor for betting on himself and what he has done in NXT.

-AJ says he knew what to expect in New Japan, but didn’t expect how good the guys he would be facing over there were. He puts over Nakamura, and Tanahashi. He had fans crying as he had Tanahashi in the calf crusher and he couldn’t believe how great of a story they were telling.

-Austin brings up the YouTube video that shows the 25 moves of AJ Styles. AJ says that he wants to be different than anyone else. He doesn’t want to take moves from other people. He says every move has been done, but he wants to do something to make them his own.

-They touch on Nakamura and how he is the King of Strong style. He asks if there was any heat when he knocked out Miz’s teeth. AJ says Miz is a tough dude that doesn’t get enough credit and had no problem with what happened. AJ doesn’t mind getting hit stiffly because he knows his style.

-Favorite moments and AJ says mainly the matches he has had. They bring up the Rumble debut. AJ was worried nobody would know who he was, but it was perfect. He loved every second of it and could have basked it in for easily 5 minutes, but had to get down to business with Roman.

-They talk about him making the jump to WWE and how HHH was supposed to call and never did. So AJ started to talk to TNA and ROH again. Just as he was talking to TNA, HHH finally called. They had a great conversation and he knew the WWE is where he wanted to be. Soon after Anderson and Gallows decided they were going to leave.

-Differences between operation of WWE vs. New Japan vs. TNA. AJ says WWE is the most professional place he has ever worked. He also jokes they have top notch catering that he never had anywhere else. AJ says he knows who is in charge in the WWE and he never had that anywhere else. At the same time if Vince isn’t available he can go to HHH.

-He doesn’t feel he is being held down and that the WWE is giving him every chance to make a name for himself. Vince told him he wanted him to be a pitbull and AJ says he knows that guy and can do that.

-WrestleMania next and AJ says his knees were shaking. Nothing gets much better than that and says he could not hear the crowd because of the sound going straight up to the roof. Austin brings up that his kids were upset he lost and AJ promised them that he was a winner that night because he was at WrestleMania.

-Austin asks if AJ prefers working as a heel or face and AJ says it doesn’t matter as he will do whatever he is needed. He admits it is easier working as a heel, and says that he would like to have an office job in the WWE when his career is done. He doesn’t feel there is a glass ceiling and that he doesn’t buy that people hold people down. It is his job to go out there and make people take notice. He promises he has only scratched the surface and he has some stuff in the bag that he hasn’t pulled out yet and he is waiting for the right time.

-Austin wraps up this podcast as we end what was one of the better podcasts they have done in a long time. Tremendous stuff even with the lagging and constant interruptions. Thanks for being patient and following along.