Kevin Nash never set up a ring in his career, does not think Avery Styles should be setting one up either, and bases it on liability rather than dues.
The Avery Styles story has run for two weeks. Natalya praised the 19-year-old on social media for wanting to earn his place rather than be coddled as AJ Styles’ son. Arik Cannon, a long-serving independent wrestler who runs F1RST Wrestling in Minnesota and co-promoted the GCW shows in Minneapolis that weekend, replied that he had watched him avoid helping with anything, and later said Avery had been asked twice about chairs and hid in the locker room instead.
AJ Styles answered that his son had been paid to wrestle, not to set up and take down a ring, and called Cannon a jealous douche. GCW distanced itself from Cannon, saying he speaks only for himself. Cody Rhodes, JBL and Matt Hardy have all weighed in since. Nash went further than any of them on Kliq This.
“It’s not like being a young boy at the dojo and lacing the boots of the old-time Japanese wrestlers. It’s not a tradition. This is a very intricate, if not the most intricate part of the apparatus that we do the art form that we call pro wrestling in on a weekly basis.”
He put it in terms of liability.
“And God forbid, if AJ’s kid tightened a rope too much, or didn’t tighten a rope too much, caused somebody to get injured. Somebody, because it’s AJ’s kid, put the heat on him. So doesn’t it make more sense for AJ’s kid not to be a part of that process and be a part of the process on the canvas?”
He also questioned whether a promoter would want the help.
“Are you supposed to come into a territory and take someone’s job, that it is to set up the ring? Are you gonna stop doing what you’re doing and take me under your wing and let me be your ring put together apprentice, or are you just gonna do what you do?”
He was flat about his own record.
“I never set up a ring in my f***ing career. I never was asked to put up the ring.”
He noted that ring crew work in WWE has historically been done by people whose job it is, pointing out that referees have long helped with setup and teardown and that one in particular still does.
The rest of his answer was aimed at Cannon rather than the argument, including a suggestion that a wrestler who has spent a decade on the independent scene should think harder about which relationships he burns.
“There’s only so many bridges, and if you burn three of the six, and you haven’t been anywhere for 10 years.”
He also pointed out that AJ Styles has just retired into a WWE job, having been announced for the Hall of Fame in February and having spent recent weeks covering for a coach at the Performance Center.
The person he sided with was Natalya, who started it.
“Natty thinks he’s got what it takes on that canvas to do something.”
Avery Styles is 19 and has had fewer than ten professional matches. He debuted on June 26 for Squared Circle Action in Georgia with his father in his corner, beat Alexander Lev in his GCW debut in Omaha on July 31, and lost to Marcus Mathers in Minneapolis the following night, which is the show at the center of all this.
His father has spoken about the pressure the surname puts on him, saying he is taking risks he does not need to take this early and that he would come out of retirement to tag with his sons if the opportunity were right.
