Original subtitles

That may be the

toughest question that I've ever been asked.

Since 1998, this man has competed all over the world. Who is the phenomenal

In the end, he's a turned up version of Alan Jones.

I am the phenomenal A .J.

Alan Jones, AJ Styles, we're all the same. We're the same guy.

Now, does that change? Of course.

He's definitely not the turd that you see now.

We don't like this guy. But again, there's that part of your brain that you

you could say, you wish you could do, that now you get to be.

I am the elite.

I am the greatest.

AJ Styles is a winner.

But there's also, when you're the good guy, now you get to be.

Exactly who I love being.

A very kind, work hard, get after it, you can do it too kind of guy.

So they're just versions of Alan Jones either turned up to this side or to

Is it? Can it be?

I got an ego bigger than anything you've ever known, and I heart twice as big as

that. My first memory of professional wrestling, I remember Saturday night.

probably Georgia Championship Wrestling, because I remember seeing Ric Flair on

there. I just remember sitting by myself and just enjoying wrestling.

And I couldn't understand why nobody wanted to watch it with me. It's just

He's got the figure four leg lock.

The champion had to come forth. I've always loved competition, whether it's

tee ball. When I was five years old, sliding into second base under their

and getting up and brushing myself off. And when it came to any contact sport,

whether it be wrestling or football, to describe that feeling of the adrenaline

that you get, everything that happens in split seconds.

decision making and everything that took place to get you to that point. How do

you describe something like that? I'm not really sure. I just know I really

enjoyed my dad watching me in the stands and going absolutely nuts.

I understand now as a father, I understand the worries and the stress

with being a husband and a father. Like it's tough and some people don't know

what to ask. how to handle that, and my dad did not know how to handle it.

He was in a bottle. He drank a lot, and when he drank a lot, he would take all

these frustrations and everything out on my mom and my brothers.

When my dad didn't drink, he was a great father.

I really loved him being at my games.

I loved all that, but he had a problem. He had issues.

I knew that my dad believed I could do anything.

Yes, I was the smallest in the family, but there was something about the way he

talked to me about certain things. He made me believe in me.

I met my wife, Wendy, when

we were in high school. My wife was very competitive as far as cheerleading

goes. She was amazing.

Amazing. She actually, she's the one that taught me how to, you know, do a

tuck, you know, a back flip. We were in the back of the school where the track

was, but they also had the pole bolting mat still up, and so I could just jump

on the mat and try it, try it, see if I could do a flip.

And it didn't take long, and I was going back tucks pretty easy.

You know, when I was in college, it kind of dawned on me, like, I never really

enjoyed high school as far as book work.

Why am I wasting my time and money in college if I don't want to be here?

So I ended up leaving college and going and getting a regular job. But in that

regular job, I had passed through my friends from high school who were just

really jacked up muscle heads.

And they told me they were going to go train to be professional wrestlers. I

said, okay.

I'm sure you will. In fact, I'll go with you if you ever find a place. And lo

and behold, they found a place about 20, 30 minutes from my house. And so I had

no excuse why I couldn't go.

So I went with them and I took that first bump or a fall. It was one of

things where the impact and how hard I did it. And it wasn't that hard for me

do. Like I understood how my body was supposed to go. Now it wasn't perfect,

mind you.

But there was something about it that triggered something in my brain says,

is what we need to do for the rest of our career.

From Gainesville, Georgia, weighing in at 210 pounds, he is the

phenomenal A .J. A

.J.

came from my football team. Everybody called me A .J., so that stuck.

And I was tagging with a guy at one of my first matches.

And his last name was Steele.

So they're, uh, Stiles.

Stiles and Steele. That'll work. Boom. That was your name.

I didn't like it.

The name Stiles, it just sounded quirky to me. It didn't sound cool at all. And

it was just spelled like S -T -Y -L -E -S.

Why didn't I spell it differently?

Like S -T -I -L -E -Z.

Or something like, do something different. It's just so common.

I've grown to love it. I have.

At the time, WCW had a developmental deal with Wildside, where I was

at. It was literally like, hey, you guys are great. Would you like to come to

Baltimore and do a dark match?

Absolutely. And within a week or two, we were signed with WCW.

Wait, Brad, are you all right? I'm all right.

Yeah, he's all right.

So I

go to WCW, and before I

was brought on as talent, we were brought in as extras. And I was always

to just stay out of the way, not getting anybody's business.

kind of do what needed to be done by me. And then once you get signed, it was a

little nerve -wracking because you're the young guy.

These are the two newest additions to the WCW cruiserweight roster. They've

tearing it up on the independent circuit. In the ring now is AJ Styles.

He's 23 years old from Gainesville, Georgia, entering his third year as a

professional.

What's this? That's the move!

I had a deal where I think I got paid.

$750 a week, and that was huge for me.

AJ Styles would pop in at the end of Nitro.

he's part of air raid he's in there with air paris and he was doing some fun

stuff but that was it he hit wcw probably a year too late into the

goes aj styles and then there was talk of you know wcw going out of business

like this is impossible it's huge there's no way something like this would

happen and so i was at home when shane mcmahon turned up on my

television

I was like, uh -oh.

Johnny Ace called me and basically said, AJ, WWE has

not picked up your contract.

And we just started talking as far as dark matches and whatnot.

Every chance I get, every opportunity that I get, I'm going to make the best

it. All I need is an opportunity.

All I need is the chance.

Okay, here we go. Three, two.

Ah, the sweet smell of success.

It's a familiar scent to me because the smell seems to follow me wherever I go.

I'm AJ Styles.

My first match in WWE was with Rick Michaels.

I think when you are coming up, it's more about the spot.

The reason why you think like that is because you've got to get some

You've got to have someone wanting to see what you're about to do next.

And if I watch it back today, I will hate it because it's all about the

story. And there's a story that can be told within the wrestling match that

makes sense where you can put in those flips and whatnot, but it doesn't all

work the way I put it together way back then.

The only way that you get to that point in your career where you understand that

is experience.

It was pretty cool because after that, I'm walking to the back, and Triple H

comes up to me and says, hey, just you want to make sure you slow down.

And, you know, if you think you're going too fast, just slow down a little bit

more. I said, but we were just moving through it. And I wish I hadn't have

anything because nobody likes a but guy.

But, but, but.

I tell you what, this AJ Styles, if you haven't ever seen him before, in fact,

this is his World Wrestling Federation television debut. He's a very, very good

competitor, and the Hurricane's certainly got to have his hands full.

I do remember wrestling Hurricane, and we knew each other from The

Well, now the Hurricane, he's got AJ Styles up, and what in the world is

Oh, my goodness!

That's the Bird Breaker!

I was coming back the next day from catering.

And Jim Ross walked up to me and said, hey, that was a good match yesterday.

Keep doing what you're doing. I was like, holy crap.

He watched.

Soon after that, they had a camp for a couple guys.

And it seemed like it paid off because I was offered a developmental deal.

But that developmental deal consists of me moving to Cincinnati.

I ended up talking to Johnny Ace.

I said, I really appreciate this, but I can't move to Cincinnati and disrupt

my family.

I feel like my wife's dream came first with her wanting to be a teacher, and I

didn't want to mess that up.

And lo and behold, I think it was the best decision I'd ever made.

After WCW went out of business and WWE didn't pick me up, I was like,

Well, let's be real. I felt sorry for myself for about a week.

And then it was time to get back after it.

The first time me and AJ Styles met was in Northern California.

It was at a tournament called King of the Indies. And of all the people that I

met there, I liked AJ the least.

By far. Because he was incredibly antisocial, in my opinion.

And I kind of paired it with the persona that he was kind of portraying down

in Georgia at the time. And I was like, I think this dude believes his own hype.

Man, this guy's a real piece of trash.

And come to find out, I was completely wrong.

Kind of.

The reason why I think that...

You become more like a family when you're on the road with someone.

You're very similar in the way that you're thinking a lot of times.

And life is hard.

Sometimes it gets interrupted by your career, and then you need somebody to

to. Well, who are you going to talk to? You talk to the guys that you're riding

with on a daily basis.

It's that brotherhood that you have that never really ends.

The relationship was really just based off of...

You know, loving what we do.

You know, I'd never seen somebody with such a complete repertoire.

To see him in the ring is artistry.

Jeff Jarrett and his father, Jerry Jarrett, started up TNA.

But again, it was great to be there, but I wasn't taking it very seriously. I

just was treating it like another independent.

But after the third month, I was like, well, this might be something.

And you kept hearing how it's about to go under, it's about to go under. And

wow, it was 11 years I spent with that company.

I think toward the end of TNA, I really found out who AJ Styles was.

He basically was someone who could think for themselves.

He didn't need someone to tell him what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.

In fact...

It kind of pisses me off that you try to tell me who I am when I know what I'm

capable of, but you won't give me the opportunity. Maybe it's because of my

size. Maybe it's because I have a southern accent. Maybe it's something

that we don't really understand. In that moment, as you put a chip on my

shoulder, I knew exactly who AJ Styles was.

He's somebody that's always understood his worth, and I think that's incredibly

invaluable in life.

I believe it was the end of 2013.

We just extended my contract to the end of the year because it was up in August.

And we couldn't really decide on what would be right for me to stay because

they were asking me to take less money. It was really disturbing to me that they

asked me to do something like that. I've always been the guy that you can count

on to actually do some good.

If you need somebody to call on, hey, get AJ.

He'll be that guy. I am sure.

That they expected me to go, okay, I'll stay.

I really believe that.

My son was born in 2005.

My other son was born in 2007.

My third son was born in 2009.

So I have three boys.

And I'm about to leave a guaranteed paycheck every week.

But again, I was like, I have to do this. I have to bet on AJ Styles. I have

bet on me that we're going to be okay.

The whole world was telling AJ, you know, there was nowhere in the world you

were going to make the money that you deserve.

And, you know, he bucked that trend. He said, no, that's not true.

And he did.

He had established himself in the mid -2010s as the best wrestler in the

and we never saw him on Monday nights, and we never saw him on SmackDown.

Japan and Japanese wrestling was the place you went to watch unbelievable

matches from unbelievable athletes. When AJ Styles did it, it stood out that

much more.

They were very good at taking a guy who doesn't speak any Japanese

and making him a star and also giving him a story and saying who he was.

As great as it was to see him wrestling in Japan against some of the very best

in the world,

that means he had to go to Japan.

So traveling Japan, it's a long flight.

I believe 14 hours.

It's tough.

And I wasn't flying in business class.

It was coach.

You're just hoping to find a window seat.

You know, it may be in the exit row. That was the thing.

Again, it was worth the travel. It was worth me going through all that because

of the experiences I had.

I feel like myself and AJ's careers have always been ships in the night. We've

always just missed each other. When I finally decided to sign with WWE, that

when AJ came to Japan, and the night he debuted in Japan was... the night of my

final match. So, you know, it was literally like a hot tag situation

know, hey, buddy, good to see you. I'm out of here. And he's like, yeah, well,

I'll pick up the stack. Don't worry.

Winning the IWGP Championship was a huge milestone.

And I say that because very few Americans have held the IWGP

believe the last guy to hold it before me was Brock Lesnar.

And I felt...

that if they were willing to trust me to hold their championship, I needed to

deliver every way that I could.

You know, just to be accepted, I think in Japan, it's something that's very,

very difficult for a Westerner to do. And, you know, AJ came in and he was

accepted straight away. And the only reason you get accepted by Japanese fans

if you have talent and if they respect you. And, you know, AJ had that respect

from day one.

AJ Styles truly was one of the first... Word of mouth wrestlers. You wanted to

go seek out where he was.

Whether it be in Japan or Nashville or Orlando or Canada or somewhere in

or going over to wrestle in Europe, you followed AJ Styles.

There's no BS to that. AJ Styles is a phenomenal professional wrestler. And

you get that nickname, you have to live up to it.

He never lets you down.

Now, Samoa Joe was in NXT.

He's one of my buddies.

And he kind of let me in on a little secret that somebody named Shinsuke

Nakamura might be leaving.

Shinsuke is a huge star in Japan.

So I thought, oof, that's a huge hit.

Knowing about Shinsuke and even to a certain amount about AJ, I think it

to how passionate the fan base is about following every single detail. They keep

track of these things.

I grew up as a fan like anyone else, but I did find myself in the wrestling

media.

Here at AJ Styles, talking about the alternative to WWE.

Everybody would love to see you there, but you've made a hell of a career of

yourself without ever going there.

Do you feel like more guys feel that way now? I hope so. I mean, don't let your

ego get in the way because you watched something since you were a kid.

For me, it's about supporting my family. And I've said this in countless

interviews, that I'm going to go wherever the business takes me.

It did feel like the first time.

In all of the times people had wanted him to show up in WWE, that it actually

had a real chance of happening. But at the time, you didn't know.

There was a lot of Internet talk, but nothing was actually confirmed.

You can make light of these situations and, you know, you can have a little fun

with the Internet. But, you know, until someone walks out on Raw or walks out on

SmackDown, I don't believe it's actually going to happen.

Out of the blue, Terry Taylor just kind of text me and I text him back.

is there anything to this WWE where they want to do it? He says, listen, don't

let your ego get in the way. I said, hold on.

My ego's not getting in the way. I'm just saying if there's money there, I

want to leave it on the table.

He said, okay, let me talk to Paul, to Triple H.

I remember being in my hotel room for a Ring of Honor show and getting a call

from Triple H, and we had a great 30 -minute conversation about WWE.

And my wife prayed for a certain amount.

Triple H said, this is what we're offering.

I said, done.

This was the perfect time for me to go to WWE because everything had changed.

Daniel Bryan, who wasn't a big guy, who became a huge star.

You could be a regular man and you could make it in the WWE if you're willing to

bust your tail and find a way to get there.

I think at the time the business was changing and I think that WWE were

realizing the value in using the internet to create a buzz.

Realizing that fans want the inside scoop.

Sometimes the most interesting story is the story we're not actually telling.

I think the Rumble's special because it's a night where, you know, any

can kind of change their destiny and write their ticket to WrestleMania.

I will say this as a fan. When that clock is counting down, it's the most

exciting thing of the entire year for me.

The fans are excited.

Can we grab a picture? Yeah.

And everybody is like... Pat, we can't wait to Royal Rumble. Is it going to be

good? I said, damn right it's going to be good. It's always good.

Look at this.

Not one empty seat.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be in the Rumble until a week before.

I picked up AJ from the airport before the Royal Rumble.

He flew into Tampa, where I was residing at the time. I scooped him up, dropped

him off at a transport bus, then he headed off to the Rumble.

AJ just entered the Amway Center later tonight. You will be debuting in front

the WWE Universe.

The last couple of weeks, the rumor is obviously whirling that AJ Styles is

coming to WWE.

What do you think tonight that your response will be?

I hope they are falling out. I hope they're passing out. I hope they're

nuts because I'm going to feed off their energy. So it's going to be exciting.

15 ,000 WWE fans are ready.

Welcome to the...

I was joking around when I told, I think I told Triple H, like, yeah, I'll come

out number two.

And lo and behold, they come back and say, you're going three.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the Royal Rumble match.

Roman Reigns comes in here tonight as the WWE champion, which means 29 other

superstars gunning for that title.

Scared? Sure.

The fact is, I'm a grown man, and I have no idea what to expect.

I'm literally praying to God that someone will remember me.

It seemed like everybody knew who AJ Styles was.

And so many emotions are going through my head that I can't

even explain.

To see the shock and the excitement and the joy, that's what we as performers

live for, the genuine.

emotional elation.

I was at the Amway Center that night.

Part of you is thinking like, wow, I wish I was in a Royal Rumble. But the

part of you is saying, this guy has paved the way for guys like me coming

the Indies into WWE.

And he stole the show.

He really blazed the trail for us to follow.

AJ Styles just showed up in the Royal Rumble.

And there's one guy in the ring.

The first person AJ Styles is going to touch in WWE is the WWE

champion. It sounds crazy. Here comes this guy who just came from Japan.

Styles is here!

Former IWGP champion, same as Brock Lesnar.

And people are going nuts for AJ Styles.

Styles has competed all over the world, but he's in there now, the WWE champion.

And who is going to enter at number four?

It's Prince Pretty, Tyler Breeze.

Roman Reigns. And there, Breeze is out.

That's the thing about the Rumble. Once so many guys get in there, there's very

little you can do.

It's basically the waiting game.

He is in the war of attrition.

You can't win the Royal Rumble right now, but you can lose the Royal Rumble

right now.

I'd never seen the ropes since when I was having dark matches for WWE.

I had no idea how the ropes were going to be, if I could springboard on them or

not.

Competition is always going to be involved in my life, no matter what it

hate to lose at anything.

AJ Styles still in this match as we await number 18.

Oh, here we go!

There was something about that intensity that I could bring for wrestling.

Oh, and Kevin Owens!

Welcome to the WWE!

AJ Styles was in this match for 28...

As crazy as it sounds, I was so happy that it was over.

Leading up to that, not knowing what to expect at all, and then finally getting

to sit back and go, oh man, that was great.

I'm glad it's over.

Debut, WWE, biggest wrestling company in the world at the Royal Rumble.

Sounds pretty awesome, right?

The only thing that would have made that better, if I was the last one standing

out there in that ring.

Don't fret, I got a couple more years to be in the Royal Rumble, and it'll be

different next time.

WWE presents its own unique challenges. It is a very, very intimidating

environment. But there hasn't been an environment where I haven't seen them

thrive. Here is your number one contender, AJ

Styles!

His rookie year here, his debut year, has been nothing short of phenomenal.

BAM!

You know, going from your debut in the Royal Rumble and the next year, I'm the

WWE champion wrestling John Cena.

I've got goosebumps. There is nothing like a big fight feel.

I mean, wow.

There's people who show up to the mountain and they sigh and they go sit

car.

There's those that show up to the mountain, they take a deep breath and

start climbing.

That's the type of person AJ Styles is. The Phenomenal AJ Styles!

I

think the thing I

admire most about Alan Jones as a man is that he's firmly, firmly kept the

priorities on his family and at his home.

despite what I may have said about him in the past.

I digress.

That's what I respect most about him. You know, through all this, through the

championship reigns, through the fame, through watching him throughout his

career, and, you know, from being a friend and a brother, he's a man who's

always firmly kept what is most important in his sights and at the

And everything he does, he does for them.

And he does it with all his heart.

And I think it very much translates.

and to what the people get to witness every week.

So, at my house, I can't, like I just gave me co -chills for anybody, I

hate that word.

I can't.

I hate that word because you can.

If you do anything enough, you're going to get better at it.

So if you practice and work hard, opportunities are going to come.

And you take advantage of those opportunities.

Man, it's not about you deserve anything. You earned it.

And once you earn something, no one can take it away from you because you earned

it. It wasn't given to you.

The journey that you went on to get to this point in your life, you earned it.

So don't tell me I deserve something.

I earned it.

And that is the very same thing.

I put in my kids. I want them to know that it's obtainable if you're willing

work for it.

It took me 17 years, 17 years to get to the WWE, and it was all worth it.

Would I do it all over again?

100%. Everything that I have learned about myself, about this business, about

my friends, so much that I've learned about life.

that got me to this point, I wouldn't change a thing.

Nobody can take that away from me. That's always going to be a part of it.

Not just AJ Styles, but Alan Jones.