WWE Hall of Famer “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles appeared on an episode of his Phenomenally Retro podcast to discuss various topics, including his new role as a coach and talent scout within the company.
Styles said, “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 what attributes he is looking for in prospective new talents:
“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.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
