AJ Styles just finished up an awesome feud with Roman Reigns and although he wasn’t able to defeat Roman and win the WWE Title, their feud has been getting a lot of praise. Roman and AJ seemed to bring out the best in each other and they had a stellar match at Payback then they managed to top it at Extreme Rules.
AJ Styles recently spoke to Rolling Stone and he had a lot of praise for Roman Reigns and even said that he thinks he’s better than most people realize. AJ was asked if the fans underestimate Roman Reigns and he thinks that they do.
“Absolutely. I think he’s a better athlete than a lot of people realize. He should get a lot more credit for his athleticism. He’s unbelievable, he can do a lot of stuff. I think he’s been able to showcase that with me. We’re doing something right – I don’t think people gave Roman a chance; in fact. I think a lot of fans jumped on the bandwagon when someone started booing, instead of taking the chance to see what he could do in the ring.”
AJ was also asked if he’s thought about retiring and he says that he will retire in a couple of years, but he doesn’t know how long “a couple of years” is.
“No. I know that retirement will be in a couple years. I don’t know how many a couple is at this point, but the ultimate goal is the opportunity to retire [and then] do something else you’re interested in. There’s a lot of guys who have retired and went into podcasts or TV shows, so there’s other things out there. But also you want to spend time with your family, because when you’re in WWE you’re gonna work for your money, and I expect to do that. But that means you’ll be on the road a little more and might miss some things at home, but you get to make that up by retiring and being with them 24/7 – which might annoy them to a certain degree [laughs].”
AJ also talks about what he would like to do after wrestling, if he thought he would be main eventing so quickly and more in the full interview which is available here.
I do feel like people are harsh to him. Chanting ‘you can’t wrestle’ is incredibly mean, especially when he can wrestle, and the beef the audience has with him isn’t really anything to do with him. People dislike the way he’s been booked, which he can’t control. Having said that, I don’t think his characterisation and storytelling is very good, which annoys me, especially in the prominent position he’s in. He’s getting better, but every interview I see with him just screams midcarder. He’s not ready to be the face of the company.
Want to fix Reigns? Turn him heel already! People WANT to boo him, and they should go with that. After awhile of a heel Reigns, you can turn him again and then it’s very possible that people will then cheer him.
It worked for The Rock…