AJ Styles is not sure today’s young wrestlers are as hungry as he was coming up during the early 2000s.
On What Do You Wanna Talk About? with Cody Rhodes, Rhodes brought up old-school wrestling etiquette and customs passed down on the independent scene.
“It feels like it’s this old thing that the indies kept, that no longer is how we say things anymore,” Rhodes said.
Styles agreed and said he has noticed a change in younger talent.
“And I agree. There’s a lot of things passed down the wrong way, especially on the indies. It’s like it’s changed. It’s not the same. It’s not what you think. Yeah, and you can look at it and see that it’s definitely has changed. The hunger, to me, to some, it’s not the same. Like I was dying to get anything I possibly could, and I don’t think it’s like that as much anymore. You know, I wanted it all. You know, these kids talk about the smoke. I wanted every ounce of it. Whatever was there, I wanted it all, and I just don’t know if it’s like that anymore. I don’t know if they are as hungry as I was, and maybe I was too obsessive because I’ve learned through talking to other people that, no, AJ was different. Like, oh, I thought everybody was this way. Yeah, they weren’t, which explains a lot, you know,” Styles said.
“Maybe you were too obsessive, but there’s no other way to be, right?” Rhodes replied.
“I didn’t have a plan B,” Styles said. “This is all I had. This is all I wanted. This is the only thing I knew that I could do, and you know, and I’m able to have retired after 27 years because I had that mentality.”
Styles said he learned from everyone he worked with throughout his career. He added that time in the ring is what makes a wrestler better.
“Everybody I ever stepped into the ring with, I learned from literally everybody,” he said. “The more experience you have, the better you’re going to get because you’re going to wrestle some guys that are absolutely trash, and you’ll know after working them what you should have done better to help the match be, you know, somewhat good.”
Styles also said that drive does not go away after retirement.
“You still have this whatever it is inside of you that you’re never going to be able to get out,” Styles said. “Stone Cold still has it. Undertaker still has it, even though they’re retired from the ring. Yeah, they still have it, man. It’s not going to go anywhere. You just can’t get rid of it.”
