AJ Styles said on his Phenomenally Retro podcast that his biggest fear throughout his WWE run was being let go, and that it would have embarrassed him to be seen as not good enough to keep. To JBL, that says more about why Styles was as good as he was than about any real insecurity.
Speaking on Something to Wrestle, JBL framed it as a trait rather than a weakness.
“I think that’s a competitor brain. I think that’s a guy that always is striving to be the best at what he is, and he always has some doubts,” JBL said. “Guys that have doubts like that are the guys that are your top guys.”
He then offered what he considers his highest praise.
“The biggest compliment I could give to AJ Styles was he was this generation’s Shawn Michaels. I used to say that all the time on commentary for him, and I meant it,” JBL said. “I wasn’t just saying something to put him over. I was putting him over, but there was something that I meant. I just never saw him have a bad match. He was just amazing at what he did.”
JBL also recalled that his enthusiasm for Styles got him into trouble the night Styles debuted in the 2016 Royal Rumble, when he and Michael Cole came to the desk armed with a résumé Vince McMahon did not want acknowledged.
“I remember when he came in, me and Michael Cole got in trouble because we had all his stats. He was a surprise,” JBL said. “Vince was like, why would you know all his stats? Because to Vince it didn’t exist, because it wasn’t in WWE.”
He said the pair tried to argue their way out of it.
“I was like, Vince, if Aaron Judge came over and I’m at Cincinnati and he came over all of a sudden as a surprise, I would know who this guy is,” JBL said. “So we defended ourselves, but it didn’t work very well.”
Styles retired at the Royal Rumble in January after a career-on-the-line loss to Gunther, and now works with WWE in a backstage and ambassador role.
