The OC On Not Travelling With AJ Styles When They Were Frustrated in WWE, Styles Says This Contract Is His Last

– AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows appeared on Chasing Glory and discussed the period when Gallows and Anderson were frustrated with their roles in WWE, and how that affected their friendship with Styles. Anderson and Gallows told Lilian Garcia that when they were not being used and kept at the bottom of the card when they did show up, they didn’t travel with Styles because they didn’t want to bring him down.

Styles noted that he was aware of his friends’ frustration and felt bad because he’d asked them to come to WWE with them and felt responsible. He also discussed the status of his career and how his current contract with WWE, signed in March, will be his last with the company. Highlights and the full podcast are below:

Anderson on not riding with Styles when they were not happy in the company: “We were miserable. And he [Styles] would even want to ride with us, and we we would kind of blow him off … we blew him off purposely though, because we didn’t want him to come in the car and listen [to them complain]. Because every ride – I don’t know if it was healthy or unhealthy – but every ride we were riding, we were pissed.”

Gallows on the same: “Every single day of our life, whether we were on the road, at work, on the road, or at our homes, we were talking to each other about where we were going when we leave, our outside contracts and everything else, because we were miserable.”

Gallows on helping each other deal with the frustrations: “We helped each other, and that’s for sure. But ours was like a pissed off determination, because we’re like, ‘We know we’re better than this’ … I could feel it with him [Anderson] when he’d be home sometimes too, because you know, wives in this business – they understand, but they don’t truly understand what we were going through as a performer with the anxiety that he had. And I think they were probably like not getting along as well because of that. Because she’s going, ‘Why are you bringing this home with you?”

Styles on feeling guilty that Anderson and Gallows weren’t happy: “Listen, I mean, I get it and I can understand where they were coming from because I was doing well and they weren’t. But at the same time, their excuse was, ‘Oh, we’re in the first part of the show. you’re in the main event. We’re gonna get to the hotel, bud.’ You know, that was their excuse. Of course I I knew [they were upset], and it sucks. It sucks to be in that position. And it sucked for me too, because I felt that I’m responsible for these guys, because I asked them to come with me. And then if they’re not doing well, then that’s on [me], like, ‘How can I get them to do well? What do I gotta do?’ I know that they’re better than what they are showing, and they’re not given the opportunity to show how good they were. So how do we get there? And so [I] was always searching, always searching. Even if they didn’t believe it. Like, I was always trying to find a way to get our foot in the door. Even when I finally came over, I lost the championship. I go, ‘Okay. Alright, so maybe we can get The O.C., or the The Club back together?’ And I kept pushing, kept pushing, kept pushing, hearing, ‘Not yet, not yet,’ kind of stuff like that. And then overnight, it was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to do this.”

Anderson on their frustrations on not being used: “When we were miserable, it wasn’t about — we didn’t want to like, win matches or win titles. It was just like, we just like so underutilized. We weren’t doing anything on TV or [anywhere].”

Gallows on not having anything to do: “We just wanted to perform, you know? Coming to eat catering, and you know. You’ve seen people do it for years. And it wears on you. And these long TV days, and you have nothing to do, and nobody is really talking to you, and you’re just going, ‘Oh my goodness’.”

Styles on his current contract with WWE being his last: “I have no doubt that this is what I was going to do for my career. It really was, and you couldn’t have told me any different. And I can tell you that the contract that I signed here in the WWE is my last. This is it for me. This is where I am going to end my career, no matter what happens. I want to be there for my kids.”

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