AJ Styles Discusses How His NJPW Run Changed Everything For His Career

(Photo Credit: WWE)

WWE star AJ Styles recently spoke with Sports Illustrated on a number of topics including how his run in NJPW about a decade ago changed everything for his current career.

Styles said, โ€œThe creative changed everything for me. If I were bringing somebody over to be in my company, the last thing I would do is have them win the heavyweight Championship as soon as they got there, but thatโ€™s what they did, and it worked, it put me on the map immediately.โ€

โ€œNew Japan was getting hot, real hot, and thatโ€™s when I got there. I got to be in the ring with incredible talent like Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi, those guys, theyโ€™re big time and there were no handcuffs, whatever I wanted to say or do, I could.โ€

โ€œWhen I heard Shinsuke was leaving, he didnโ€™t even know I knew, nobody knew, Iโ€™ll put it like that and thatโ€™s when I spoke about it with Gallows and Anderson and we all decided to leave.โ€