Current WWE United States Champion AJ Styles has shared the methods he uses in helping younger talent to grow and improve in the ring.
In an interview with Sporting News, Styles, who has over 20 years worth of in-ring experience, commented on his feedback style when approaching and guiding Superstars. He also discussed the reformation of The Club—now known as The O.C.— with his Good Brothers, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.
Phenomenal Feedback
When it comes to feedback, Styles likes to hone his observations to one or two key things, rather than overloading the Superstars he is trying to help.
“If you just give them one or two things and, most importantly, encourage them and make sure they know all that they’re doing right too—you can’t just blast them in the face with negativity. Build them up, let them know what you think, what your opinion is—it’s not a fact—of how they can get better and give them the opportunity to work on it the next time. That’s how I got better. I didn’t learn it all at once.”
Turning his attention towards the reformation of The O.C., Styles confessed it was something he had been actively lobbying for:
“I’ve been seeking that for a while now,” Styles admitted. “It’s just one of those things where I know how talented these guys are and the chemistry we have together. It’s unbelievable. That’s why we did so well in Japan because you have six guys—more than that, by the time I was out of there that enjoyed being together. We hung out. We’re actually friends and to this very day we hang out. We don’t have to ride with each other, but we do. We enjoy being together. You can’t teach chemistry and to have us together again, man, it’s awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.”
Missing Member
With The O.C. having reformed, people have pointed to one member of the original Japanese crew that has yet to join them in WWE: Finn Balor.
AJ hoped that it wouldn’t be out of the question that Balor might eventually join them in WWE’s version of Bullet Club. When asked if he would like to have Balor join, Styles replied:
“Of course, but with Finn Balor being on “SmackDown” and we’re on “Raw” and on top of that, he’s a babyface. We’re not exactly likable right now. Maybe that’s not something that’s going to work. There’s a time and a place, and, hopefully, that will work out in the end.”
