AJ Styles Reveals The Name He Wanted To Use Before He Started Using AJ Styles

AJ Styles is one of the top stars on WWE SmackDown Live, and he’s accomplished a lot throughout his wrestling career. AJ Styles is a name that’s well known in the wrestling industry, but it turns out that AJ Styles actually wanted to go by a very different name when he first started out in the business.

Styles recently did an interview with Atlanta, Georgia’s Rock 100.5’s Bailey and Southside show, and he revealed that he originally wanted to wear a mask and call himself Velocity.

“I wanted to wear a mask! I loved those [luchadors]. I’m so glad that didn’t happen.” Styles said via Wrestling Inc. “I wanted to wear a mask and call myself ‘Velocity’. What a terrible name.”

Although fans around the world call him AJ Styles, at home he’s known as Allen Jones. The former WWE Champion also admitted that he hated the name AJ Styles at first, and the name Styles was given to him by a promoter.

“I didn’t have a name. Everybody always called me ‘AJ’ anyway, so I stuck with AJ. And then, [the promoter] is like, ‘yeah, you’re tagging with Damien Still. We need a last name. Styles! Go!’ That’s it. That’s how the name [came] about. AJ Styles. I hated it. I hated Styles for a really long time.”

AJ also went on to say that he wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep his name in WWE, but the fact that Samoa Joe was able to keep his name convinced him there was a chance he wouldn’t have to change his. Luckily the company decided to let him keep it.

You can check out the interview below.