Recently on Chasing Glory With Lilian Garcia, former WWE ring announcer Lilian Garcia spoke with current WWE Champion AJ Styles. Among many other things, Styles talked about how he does not believe he is a great performer, making his opponent look good, and the camaraderie in the locker room that satisfies Styles’ soul.
According to Styles, he is not that great of a performer, but he hopes to be great one day.
“I try to stay humble and never assume anything because when you break down the word assume, you know what that means. Like I said, I never assume anything and in this business, you can’t. Again, things change so fast and you never know what’s going to happen, so I don’t assume, ‘oh, I’m that good’ or ‘I’m that [great]’. First of all, I don’t believe I’m that good or I’m that great. I want to be one day, but I never assume.” Styles added, “I try not to watch matches. When I do watch them, I get so mad at myself. I think they could’ve been better or a promo that could’ve been better that it just tears me up, so I know there’s a point that hopefully I can get there, but I’m not there yet. I want to be.”
Styles divulged that he derives the most enjoyment in his work from making his opponent look good.
“I don’t know that I do all the work, but I do enjoy making the guy I’m in the ring with look like a destroyer,” Styles professed. “I think I get the most satisfaction out of making someone else look good than making my own self look good. But I enjoy making someone else look good way better, not than they are, but just how much more? What can I do for them to bring it up another level? How could I get guys [the audience] boo to cheer them. How do I get [the audience] to cheer them? I want to see if I can get that out of them. Change how they feel about the character or somebody we’re trying to get something out of. How do we get there? And I get more satisfaction out of that. I feel like I’m doing my job when I do that.”
Styles echoed the words of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock in the pro wrestling context, explaining that it takes two to make a thing go right.
“You can’t have an unbelievable match without two guys in the ring.” Styles said, “it can’t be one guy doing all the work. It doesn’t work that way. I don’t care what anybody says, I couldn’t work a mop and have a great match with it. It takes two and you’ve got to find out what it is that’s going to make this match good.”
Styles shared that the relationships behind-the-scenes keep him going. ‘The Phenomenal One’ stated that Luke Harper telling him he earned it and did it the right way meant the world to him.
“What I really love are the relationships in this business and when someone comes up to you and says, ‘hey, you earned that the right way.’ This was told to me by a guy here and it meant the world to me. He has no idea how much it meant to me, but it did. Luke Harper, he came to me and he said, ‘you did it the right way. You earned it.’ And why he said this, I don’t know if I agree with it, but he’s like, ‘you’re the freaking best.’ And that meant more to me than anything I’ve ever done in this business. Someone, my peer, would say, ‘great job’ and ‘you did it the right way. It wasn’t something that was just given to you. It was something you earned.’ And I will never forget that, never forget that.”
Similarly, Styles took a soupçon of pleasure remembering special moments he shared with Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho that were very important to him.
“The little things they say means everything to me. Roman Reigns spearing me in the middle of the ring and whether he meant to or not, because it was a great match, pinning me, and as he’s rolling off, he says, ‘I love you, brother.’ That’s everything to me! Chris Jericho praying with me before my first-ever WrestleMania. That’s everything to me! That’s where I’m talking about the relationships that you make here.”
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Source: Chasing Glory With Lilian Garcia
