JBL Praises AJ Styles As This Generation’s Shawn Michaels

On the latest episode of Something To Wrestle With, JBL  offered high praise for AJ Styles and the rest of the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame class. The Hall of Fame took place on Friday with Styles, Stephanie McMahon, Demolition, Sid Vicious, Bad News Brown, and Dennis Rodman all being inducted. In addition, the Immortal Moment Award went to Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant from WrestleMania III.

JBL discussed Styles and Demolition going in. You can check out some highlights below:

On the 2026 Hall of Fame Class:

“I am [excited] too. I think all these inductees are well deserved and could have gone in many years before all of them.”

On Styles:

“AJ Styles to me — kind of like when [Tom] Brady retired. You know, Brady led the league in passing the year he retired. And like wow, ‘Dude come on. I know you’re like 100 years old, but you got to keep wrestling.’ AJ is certainly not an old man. He may feel like it inside, you know. You never know what a guy is going through inside. He’s done a lot of hard wrestling matches for a long time.

“But AJ Styles has never been better. He’s just fantastic. I’ve always said he was this generation’s Shawn Michaels, and I think he is. I’ve never seen him have a bad match, and I got to call a ton of his matches.”

On Demolition’s Induction:

“For Bill and Barry Darsow, those are two really good dudes. I know Barry a little bit better than I know Bill, because of my association with Brad Rheingans. And I’m really happy for those guys.

“You know, there was an old lawsuit that had gone on with then and Vince, and a lot of hard feelings. And so I can understand why Vince didn’t want to put them in the Hall of Fame, because of the personal reasons. But now that Vince is out of the picture, they’re welcomed into the Hall of Fame, and they should be.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something To Wrestle With an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.