A.J. Styles Did “Sit down and talk” with Vince McMahon about WWE Character Direction, Wants To “Get in the ring with Triple H”

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AJ Styles #3 2016 WWE Royal Rumble

WWE Superstar AJ Styles recently appeared on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast and discussed his move to WWE, his earlier brush with the company in 2002, and more. Below are some additional highlights from the interview (transcript viaWrestlingInc.com).

Styles on not signing with WWE in 2002: “I had the opportunity [to sign with WWE] before, in 2002, but it was just bad timing.” Styles added, “not that I didn’t want it. My wife was in college and that was her dream, so it was hard. It was a hard decision to make, but everything happened for a reason, I think. I really believe that I had to go other places to get to this point in my life. I really believe that and I wouldn’t have changed anything.”

Styles on Shinsuke Nakamura: “If you haven’t seen Nakamura, you have to see it to go, ‘wow, this guy’s awesome!’ Oh man, the roof is going to blow off that place [when Nakamura debuts at NXT TakeOver: Dallas]. I really believe that.”

Styles on who he is looking forward to facing in WWE: “Neville, him and I worked a while back and to get in there with him now, he’s a totally different guy and so am I. To get in there and wrestle him, I think that would be really fun. But there [are] a lot of guys that I’d like to get in the ring with. I want to get in the ring with Triple H. Some of the guys that I was in the ring with, but I didn’t get to actually touch them at Royal Rumble. There [are] a lot of guys! I want to get in [the ring] with the entire roster, honestly.”

Styles on his interaction with Vince McMahon on his WWE character: “[McMahon] and I did sit down and talk. We talked about this character that he wanted to see. I know this character that he’s talking about because I was him, this guy who [has] had to fight for everything. And I’d refer back to when I wrestled in high school and college. I always thought, ‘how dare this guy get on the mat with me and think that he’s going to beat me. I take that as an insult and now you’re going to have to pay the price for being on the mat with me. I’m going to hurt you. I’m not going to beat you. I’m going to hurt you in the process of beating you.’ So I know that guy that he wants to see and that’s an easy guy for me to be.”

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs