Tag: AJ Styles

WWE United States Champion AJ Styles recently called NXT’s Mauro Ranallo the best commentator in the business. After being told by a fan that he was acting as though he didn’t know who Jim Ross is because of his allegiance to WWE and its WWE Universe, however, Styles snapped back.

He admitted that, although he usually doesn’t reply to “morons,” this particular fan had earned it:

“Normally I don’t reply to real morons, but you’ve earned it. @mauroranallo is one of the busiest commentators not only in wrestling, but in sports that people get knocked out. Why do you think that’s so? You simple minded idiot.”

AJ Styles recently invaded WWE’s black-and-gold brand alongside O.C. stablemates, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. The trio assaulted Undisputed Era before the show started live and would feature in that episode’s main event. They faced the team of Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle and Keith Lee.

Styles reportedly pitched for a matchup between The O.C. and Undisputed Era to take place at WWE’s Survivor Series pay-per-view.

Undisputed Era is involved in a WarGames match on NXT TakeOver on the Saturday. The next day sees Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish participate in a Championship Triple Threat match on Survivor Series. Due to their busy schedule, a matchup between The O.C. and Undisputed Era will apparently take place on NXT television.

AJ Styles was part of the group of WWE Superstars stuck in Saudi Arabia recently. Upon his arrival home, Styles took to his Mixer stream to talk about the experience. According to Styles, he was informed by the flight crew about mechanical and scheduling issues which prevented the flight from leaving.

“We got to the airport, they weren’t letting us board,” Styles said. “What was the problem? Not real sure. I heard there was a fuel truck in the way and the guy who drove the fuel truck had left to go home. I know, this makes no sense. Why would he leave if he knows he has a plane that’s leaving? Then there were some paperwork issues. Finally, after 4-5 hours, we get on the plane. Then the ‘fuel something or another’ was broken. People can say, ‘It wasn’t broken.’ But I talked to the pilot and he said, ‘Listen, there was a problem. That’s a real thing.’”

Then Styles said they ran into issues with regulations regarding how long pilots can be active before requiring rest. It seems the plane was then not able to take-off as the assigned crew needed to go to a hotel and sleep.

“The problem was, we spent all that time, from 1 o’clock to 6 or 8 in the morning, waiting to get on the plane and them telling us we can’t go anywhere because the pilots had timed out. The pilots can only go so long before they’re not able to fly because they’re not able to go 24 hours at a time. They had to go to a hotel, we had to find a hotel. Were there guns and people like ‘EVERYBODY OFF THE PLANE!’ No, that never happened. Nobody threatened to kill us. Nobody was gonna get murdered.”

Styles then addressed recent reports that a financial dispute between Vince McMahon and the Saudi government may have played a role in the plane being delayed.

• Reported Reasons WWE Talent Were Stuck In Saudi Arabia

“I have no idea what happened between Vince [McMahon] and [Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman]. That’s not my job to say anything. Was I pretty angry about not getting home because I missed my son’s wrestling match? You have no idea. This was out of our hands and out of the pilot’s hands. There’s no point in getting mad about something I have no control of. We’ll find out as we go along why things happened. Or we won’t. I don’t know what’s going to happen going forward. I’ll deal with it when I need to. But I’m not gonna throw WWE under the bus either. It’s not gonna do me any good to throw anybody under the bus. Until I know more, I’m not gonna say anymore or say anything negative. If I did find out and I was offended, I would go to the source.”

H/T to Fightful for transcriptions

Ahead of SmackDown’s FOX premiere, AJ Styles spoke with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture. The former WWE Champion shared his thoughts on NXT’s current roster of talent. He also named who he finds particularly impressive amongst the black-and-gold Superstars.

“I think Adam Cole and his crew, I mean they are going to stand out, Velveteen Dream, obviously, guys like that. And the girls, you name it. There’s a lot of talent in NXT. It’s just whether or not they want to come to RAW or SmackDown or stay there in NXT. Everybody’s on Television now so it’s beneficial to everyone.”

He reflected on how now is a great time to be a fan of professional wrestling. Styles pointed at the talent that exists on RAW, SmackDown and NXT as an example of how exciting wrestling currently is, and how he loves being a part of the WWE roster. 

“[…] it’s so refreshing to know that we’re not just in a couple of houses. We’re all over the world. I no longer have to say ‘yeah, like WWE,’ no, [I can say] ‘with WWE.’”

AJ Styles competed in six-man tag team action this past Sunday at WWE’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. He teamed with his O.C. stablemates Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in a losing effort against The Viking Raiders and Braun Strowman.  They lost via disqualification. 

While others might be looking to make the most out of the recently increased competition in the wrestling world, the current US Champion AJ Styles is one star who is looking to ride off into the sunset after his current WWE tenure ends.

Styles has expressed his desire to retire from active competition after his current run with WWE and during a recent interview, the former WWE Champion reiterate his comments.

AJ, along with his partners Gallows and Anderson was a guest on Lilian Garcia’s Chasing Glory podcast and discussing his career, the Phenomenal one reassured that his current WWE contract is his last:

“I had no doubt that you know this is what I was going to do for my career. It really was. And you couldn’t have told me any different. And I can tell you that the contract that I signed, here in the WWE, is my last. This is it for me. This is where I’m going to end my career no matter what happens. I got to, you know? I want to be there for my kids.”

While many thought that the day might never come, AJ Styles finally signed with WWE in 2016 after making his name all over the world and competing in all other major companies.

He had signed a 3 years contract at the time. The former WWE Champion confirmed signing an extension on that earlier this year, though the length of his current WWE deal is unknown.

Quotes via Fightful.com

While it initially looked like AJ Styles might be getting involved in a rivalry with Seth Rollins in near future, some latest developments are pointing towards a different feud for the current United States Champion.

The opening segment of this week’s episode of Raw saw AJ Styles challenging Seth Rollins for a non title match and this bout took place during the main event of the show.

The match, however, ended in a disqualification after Gallows and Anderson interfered in the bout. They went on to unleash an attack on the Universal Champion which resulted in Ricochet and Braun Strowman making the save.

AJ was interviewed backstage after the show went off air and Styles, who was angry with Strowman’s actions, issued a challenge to the Monster Among Men for a United States Championship match on Raw next week:

“Braun Strowman wants to get in The OC’s business, huh? He wanted to get my attention, well let me get your attention. I’m going to put my United States Championship on the line next week, against you Braun Strowman. Do I have your attention now? Next week, RAW. You’re mine.”

With this challenge, it’s very likely that the match next week ends up being the beginning of a new feud between these two stars and Rollins finds a different challenger for his title.

Though it’s also possible that it’s a one-time affair and Styles continues his rivalry with the Universal Champion. We’ll have to tune in to Raw next week to find out.

After spending more than 2 years as one of the top babyfaces of WWE, AJ Styles returned to being a heel recently when he reformed the Club and attacked Ricochet.

During a recent interview with Sporting News, the former World Champion talked about this turn and other things including the Raw Reunion, legends he wanted to meet and more.

While discussing his heel turn, The Phenomenal One was asked what it was like to show his villainous side again and replying to it, the former TNA Star said that change is good:

“I think change is good. We have to build Superstars and that’s what we’re trying to do. The best way to build a Superstar is you have to have good heels to do it. I think Anderson and Gallows and myself are more than capable of helping build Superstars. I’m not saying that we’ll always be the bad guys, but for right now, that is what is needed.”

Later in the interview, AJ also talked about Paul Heyman being appointed the Executive Director of Raw and said that he has always been a fan of the former ECW Owner.

Per Styles, Heyman is a mastermind who can hide performers’ weaknesses and exploit their strengths and it’s just unbelievable how good he is at doing this.

Apart from this, AJ Styles also talked about his decision to re-sign with WWE, bringing the Club back together and more. You can check out his full interview at this link

AJ Styles has opened up on his decision to re-sign with the WWE while doing a recent interview with Brian Fritz of Sporting News.

In this interview, Styles did note that he did consider his options before signing with WWE for what could be his last contract. 

“Sure there was,” Style said. “This is my job. This is what I do for a living. I knew that the next contract that I will sign will be my last. I’m getting older and I don’t want to embarrass myself if I don’t have to. That’s why it was important that I made the right decision and I did. I definitely, 100 percent made the right decision in staying with WWE. They’ve taken care of me since I’ve been here. They’ve shown me nothing but respect, so it worked out.”

Styles’ WWE contract was set to expire this year which at the time sparked speculation about his future in the pro wrestling business As one of the top wrestlers in the world, it was no secret that WWE wanted to keep him around. 

Especially with new competition from All Elite Wrestling (AEW), WWE has gone to great lengths to keep talent under contract including the former world champion on their roster with big-money offers. 

If he did want to test out the free-agent market then he would get offers from different companies like New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling. It was reported a few months ago that Styles signed a new 3-year deal with the company.

Ricochet’s time as the WWE United States Champion didn’t last long as AJ Styles has dethroned him. 

Styles beat Ricochet for the title at Sunday’s (July 14, 2019) WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view event in Philadelphia, PA at the Wells Fargo Center on the WWE Network.

• WWE Extreme Rules 2019 Results (7/14)

This comes after the two stars worked against each other in the main event of RAW over the last three weeks. Two week’s ago on RAW saw Styles turn heel and reunite The Club alongside Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows by attacking Ricochet.

Since then, this has been on one of the top feuds featured on WWE television leading into Extreme Rules. 

Ricochet beat Samoa Joe to win the title at the WWE Stomping Grounds pay-per-view event in Tacoma, WA back in June. This marked Ricochet’s first title on the main roster. 

It appears that the company will continue this feud heading into the SummerSlam pay-per-view event that takes place on Sunday, August 11, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario at the Scotiabank Arena. 

What are your thoughts on AJ Styles winning the United States Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.