AJ Styles Denies That Joseph Park’s Stats & Analytics Were WWE Taking a Shot at AEW

– During a recent Twitch livestream, AJ Styles addressed an apparent rumor that AJ Styles bringing in Joseph Park as his statistician on TV was a way for WWE to take a shot at AEW and referencing AEW’s ratings and TV rankings. Below are some highlights (h/t WrestlingInc.com):

Styles on the idea that Joseph Park’s stats was WWE taking a shot at AEW: “So there were statistics that Joseph Park did and analytics, and it was said somewhere that ‘WWE’s AJ Styles taking a shot at AEW because they keep up with [rankings]. Like, what? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, like, why? I feel like maybe the information they were getting from whoever it was, from dirt sheets and whatnot, are just not there anymore so they’re really just making stuff up… It was not a shot. It was a story, and it had nothing to do with Tony Khan.”

Styles on WWE’s Attitude Era: “There was a time where obviously the Attitude Era was definitely a lot raunchier, and I know it did better ratings-wise. But that’s tough, that’s tough for me that has 4 kids, you know, and them watching us do certain stuff. And you can get away with a lot more back then that you’ll never, ever get away with again. This world has changed completely since then. There’s a lot more sensitive people out there, so the fact is that you’re going to get away with hardly anything. Hey, it sounds like SmackDown is moved to TV-14, so I don’t know what that consists of, but I guess we’re trying to get a little edgier,” he added. “But still though, it’s tough because you wish you could say certain things that you didn’t think would bother people, but it seems like everything bothers someone to a certain degree. So, you have to watch and be clear with everything you say.”

His thoughts on Dakota Kai: “She’s awesome; I think she’s going to be a bigger superstar than she already is. The sky is the limit. There’s a lot of those girls, man, they’re just – it’s not like it used to be.”