JBL does not believe Avery Styles did anything wrong by declining to help set up chairs at a GCW event, and thinks the week-long controversy surrounding AJ Styles’ 19-year-old son should never have been taken public.
Speaking on Something To Wrestle, JBL addressed the argument that began after Natalya praised Avery following his appearance for GCW in Minneapolis.
Natalya said Avery wanted to earn his place in wrestling rather than be coddled because he is AJ Styles’ son. Independent wrestler and F1RST Wrestling promoter Arik Cannon disputed that characterization, claiming Avery had avoided helping with the show and had been asked twice to assist with setting up chairs.
AJ subsequently defended his son, saying Avery had been booked and paid to wrestle rather than set up and tear down the venue, while calling Cannon a “jealous douche.”
JBL began by making clear that he supported AJ defending his son. “First of all, I want to say AJ Styles is being a good father. He’s sticking up for his son, and I don’t blame him. I love AJ. I always have. I’ve always got the utmost respect for him.”
JBL also rejected the idea that his position comes from somebody unfamiliar with the traditional concept of paying dues in professional wrestling. “I paid my dues. I don’t think anybody’s going to argue that. I broke in the territories, one of the last generation to break in the territories, and I had a thousand matches before I got to WWE. We worked 300 nights a year. I’ve set up rings in arenas. I’ve set up chairs in arenas. I’ve run my own shows with James Beard.”
For JBL, the issue comes down to what had been communicated to Avery before he arrived. “It’s all about communication. When I go to an arena, if I’m sitting in the back and I’m expecting to go to a match, and all of a sudden a promoter says, hey, I need you to set up the chairs, I’d probably tell them where to go. That’s not what I’m there for.”
If helping with the setup had been established beforehand as part of the booking, JBL said he would view the situation differently. “And if the promoter had said before, hey guys, listen, we need you to come to the show, I don’t have any help, I need you guys to help me set up the ring, I’ve set up a lot of freaking rings. I’d have no issue with that. Or if I did, I wouldn’t go. I would have an issue with somebody if all of a sudden I get there and go, oh, by the way, need you to go out there right now and set up the chairs. Screw you. And this is coming from a guy who broke in in the territories.”
The response JBL agreed with most came from Brian Pillman Jr., who now performs in WWE as Lexis King. Pillman argued that any issue with a teenage wrestler at the beginning of his career should have been dealt with privately rather than played out on social media.
“What Pillman’s son wrote on the internet, I think, is the most valuable piece out there. Don’t do this on the internet. Why in the world are you taking the chance of burying this kid? He’s a teenager, freaking getting started in the business, and you’re taking the chance of burying this guy this young in his career by putting this out on the internet.” However, now that the disagreement has generated considerable attention, JBL thinks somebody should capitalize on it. “Bring AJ in. They’ve got so much stuff you can do with this. I’d make a storyline out of it. Hell yeah, make a storyline out of it. You need interesting stuff out there.”
JBL suggested turning Cannon into the antagonist and using the controversy to establish Avery as a babyface. “Let this guy be the heel in this whole thing. Let him make AJ’s kid the babyface in this whole thing. Figure out some way for the old guys to jump AJ’s kid. Bring in AJ Styles, whatever you can. I think there’s money you can make with this. There’s no sense in just letting this go to waste. They got the whole wrestling community buzzing with this. So do something with it. Make some money out of it. Have some fun with it.”
JBL stressed that he has no personal issue with Cannon and has never met him. There would also be practical complications to involving AJ. Styles retired from in-ring competition in January after losing to GUNTHER at the Royal Rumble and was subsequently announced for the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2026. However, Styles has not completely ruled out wrestling again. He recently said on his podcast that teaming with his sons on a sufficiently significant show is one scenario that could tempt him back into the ring. “What father wouldn’t want to come back and tag with his sons?”
Styles remains under WWE contract and has recently been working at the Performance Center while covering for an injured coach, meaning any outside wrestling involvement would require WWE’s approval.
Avery is also at the very beginning of his career, with fewer than ten professional matches. He debuted on June 26 for Squared Circle Action in Georgia with AJ in his corner before making his GCW debut against Alexander Lev on July 31. He faced Marcus Mathers in Minneapolis the following night, which was the event at the center of the controversy.
GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale has largely attempted to de-escalate the situation, saying he respects both Cannon and Styles and believes Avery deserves the same grace afforded to any other 19-year-old entering the business.
JBL thinks the reason the story has generated so much discussion is partly because wrestling fans currently have relatively little controversy to sink their teeth into. “There’s no real news cycle right now. The news in the world is all just white noise. And there’s not really anything in wrestling that’s entertaining right now, so I think when you hear something like this, people want to latch onto it and have some fun and debate it, and call people names on the internet.”
His position on the original dispute, however, is considerably simpler: unless Avery had agreed beforehand that setting up chairs was part of his responsibilities, JBL does not believe refusing to do it constitutes a failure to pay his dues.
