AJ Styles says the thing wrestling is short on is psychology, and that a match does not need high spots to be good.
Styles made the point on the latest episode of The AJ Styles Show after co-host Tony Giles praised two matches Styles had produced: Brooks Jensen against Elijah Holyfield on WWE Evolve, and Rey Fenix against EK Prosper on the August 25 episode of NXT. Giles said both worked because everything in them made sense, even at very different speeds.
“One thing that wrestling is missing is the psychology behind why you do a lot of things,” Styles said. “You can have a great match without all this high-flying stuff or crazy stuff. You don’t have to have it if it’s told in a story that makes sense that people can digest.”
He said combining the two is what separates the top tier.
“When you’re able to do that, plus add the craziness to all that, that’s pro level. That’s elite level,” Styles said. “So it’s easier said than done. I’ll say that.”
He applied the same standard to Jensen, who he has known since 2020 and has produced on Evolve.
“It’s not necessarily about the moves. It’s about the selling and how he sells,” Styles said.
On the Holyfield match, Styles said the measure was whether a crowd deep into a taping stayed with it.
“They did such a good job of making that super entertaining. And we know it’s entertaining when the crowd’s still involved because they’ve seen a lot of matches that day,” he said.
The match was a lumberjack match on the August 26 Evolve from the Performance Center in Orlando, and Holyfield won it in a little over ten minutes. Holyfield is Evander Holyfield’s son and a former starting running back at Georgia, and Styles said that athletic background is why comparisons to Bron Breakker keep coming up. Jensen is the son of Bull Buchanan, has been wrestling since 2019, signed with WWE in 2021, and was one of the last NXT UK Tag Team Champions before the brand closed. He returned from a spell out with an injury earlier this year. Styles has said on the show before that Jensen will be one of the bigger stars to come out of NXT and that he has never seen anyone that young understand the business as well.
On the Fenix match, which closed NXT and saw Fenix retain the AAA Cruiserweight Championship in around 11 minutes, Styles said he stayed out of the way.
“Those guys are pros. They know what they’re doing,” he said. “I didn’t have to do a lot in that match. I gave my two cents where needed.”
Prosper had earned the shot the week before by winning a four-way on the August 18 NXT against Tristan Angels, Romeo Moreno and La Parka.
Styles’ own taste runs older. Talking about watching 1950s matches, he said the appeal is the simplicity of it.
“I just like the headlock for five minutes and then the suplexes to finish,” he said.
Styles retired from the ring after losing to Gunther at the 2026 Royal Rumble, the same event where he debuted for WWE in 2016. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 17 and now works in talent development, producing matches for NXT and Evolve. He has also been filling in as a coach at NXT while Terry Taylor recovers from knee surgery.
The two matches he was asked about make the point he was making. One ran ten minutes with a lumberjack stipulation and a former running back in it. The other was a cruiserweight title match that went eleven and closed the show. Styles produced both and described his job on the second as staying out of the way.
