AJ Styles reflects on NJPW run, leaving for WWE

[Chris]

For AJ Styles, His Run in New Japan ‘Changed Everything’

AJ Styles on New Japan & challenging Cody Rhodes in WWE

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“The creative changed everything for me,” said Styles. “If I were bringing somebody over to be in my company, the last thing I would do is have them win the heavyweight championship as soon as they got there. But that’s what they did. And it worked. It put me on the map immediately.”

“New Japan was getting hot, real hot, and that’s when I got there,” said Styles. “I got to be in the ring with incredible talent like Shinsuke, Okada, and Tanahashi. Those guys, they’re big time. And there were no handcuffs. Whatever I wanted to say or do, I could.”

“When I heard Shinsuke was leaving, he didn’t even know I knew,” said Styles. “Nobody knew, I’ll put it like that–and that’s when I spoke about it with Gallows and Anderson, and we all decided to leave.”

Life imitated art when Styles–Bullet Club’s on-screen leader–attempted to bring recruit Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga to WWE. But Fale was deep-rooted in New Japan, and Tonga–now the newest member of The Bloodline–also stayed before making the move years later.

“Fale is a New Japan guy until the end,” said Styles. “Timing is everything, and that’s why Tama is in WWE now.”

Styles and Rhodes are wrestling their first-ever singles match against one another at Backlash. But it is not Styles first match against a member of the Rhodes family, as he wrestled Dusty Rhodes in 2003.

“I was wrestling a legend,” said Styles. “I was stoked to be able to do that. We spent more time together out of the ring. When Dusty was in charge of creative, we’d talk a lot. He would tell me about his son who wrestled in high school. I wrestled in high school, too. And that was Cody. I almost went to one of his matches. Imagine that?”