AJ Styles On What Attributes He’s Looking For In Prospective WWE Stars

AJ Styles says that he has five qualities he’s looking for in potential talent through his new post-retirement role in WWE. As noted, Styles has a new position in WWE as a coach and talent account following his retirement from the ring. Styles called it quits on his in-ring career after losing to Gunther at the Royal Rumble.

Styles spoke on his Phenomenally Retro podcast about his new role in WWE and what attributes he’s looking for in prospective talent. He named five qualities that he is looking for: athletic ability, charisma, wrestling skill, mic skills, and drive. You can see the highlights from his comments below:

On Enjoying His New Role In WWE:

“This is what I want to do. This is going to be — it’s fun for me to see that, and to see people grow, and get the opportunity, to give advice.”

On the Attributes He’s Looking For:

I just got to figure out what the qualities — I don’t know if there’s ever been attributes that we have in wrestling, that we want everybody to have, you know? Because there’s athletic ability, there’s charisma. There’s just wrestling alone, talking on the mic, and drive. That’s the five I have, as of right now. That might change.

“But in my head, I don’t need you to have all five. If you have all five, then just go straight to the main roster, right? And even guys on the main roster, including myself — I don’t think I had all five. I could do all five, but I don’t think I had a perfect 10 on all five. I think it’s very difficult, and I think most done. But to have some qualities that you can build on that we can send to the Performance Center. And then we can do better at your lowest one. If it’s mic work, we can work on that. If it’s charisma, we can give you the kind of gimmick that maybe you can now get some charisma through. Because sometimes, you don’t understand the character and you’re like not feeling it, and it just isn’t there. There’s been many guys that changed into a different character and you’re like, ‘Where has this guy been?’ Bray Wyatt is a perfect example.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Phenomenally Retro with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.