In an interview with The Phoenix New-Times, WWE World Champion AJ Styles commented on a variety of topics, including WWE possibly purchasing the TNA Wrestling tape library, a potential match with current WWE NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On how wrestlers approach house shows differently than televised events: “Absolutely. We can get away with a little bit more and go a little bit longer. There are definitely some restrictions that are loosened, if you will. Bend ’em but don’t break ’em, that kind of thing. … Absolutely. And we get to interact with the fans. That’s a big part of it. Everybody gets to do their thing, whether you like the guy or love the guy or hate the girl. We get to interact with the fans more and that’s huge.”
On Mauro Ranallo saying he wants to see Styles face Shinsuke Nakamura: “I think Shinsuke Nakamura’s going to have to work his way up to where I am. I don’t have to work myself to where he is. I’m the World Heavyweight Champion. So if he wants a piece of A.J. Styles and can find a way of getting onto the Smackdown roster, he can come and get some. It may sound cliché, but he don’t want none. But, would people like to see that matchup? Absolutely. And I would love to give it to them.”
On the possibility of the TNA tape library becoming property of WWE and available on WWE Network: “Sure. I mean, there’s a lot of guys that worked there that went through there, especially me, where having the library would be pretty beneficial. From Sting to me to Samoa Joe to [R-Truth] … even Road Dogg went through there. There are several guys that went through that brand and to have all that [footage] would be great. … Well, I think it would make it easier for everyone to get caught up on who A.J. Styles actually is. Where I started and where I spent the majority of the career. So that would be a good thing to me.”
On whether he wants to WWE absorb TNA: “I don’t know. I think that I would love for them to be them and us to be us. Competition’s a good thing and to see some of my friends maybe losing their jobs, that’s never good. So I would love to see them continue to exist and do so.”
On his goals now that he’s World Champion: “In this year? Well, I want to retain the World Championship. That’s a big deal to me. Yeah, I’ve had championships before, but this one is the WWE World Championship and that means a lot more to me than any other one. So I want to hang onto it as long as I can. This is just my first year, so I want to be a part of every pay-per-view on Smackdown that I can possibly be a part of.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
