AJ Styles recently spoke with Fightful Select for an upcoming interview and revealed that WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon was not sold on him the first time he saw him in the ring.
AJ said he thinks Vince believed he had plenty of people who could do what AJ was doing in the ring, but once Styles tapped into the “pitbull” that Vince wanted, he was sold on bringing AJ in.
Styles noted that he and Vince are actually very similar in how they deal with issues.
You may remember how TNA put a statement out in January 2016, shortly after AJ’s WWE debut, and said they were close to signing him to a return deal in late 2015. AJ noted in this new interview that he had almost completely forgotten about it, but he did have talks about possibly returning to TNA before he signed with WWE. Once AJ saw current WWE Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura preparing to leave NJPW, he said he got the ball rolling on other options so that he could leave the promotion as well. He also said once he met with Triple H, he was sure he wanted to go to WWE.
Regarding his career, Styles said he’s very satisfied with how things have went, and if something unforeseen happens and he has to retire, he’s happy with what he’s done.
Stay tuned for more.
