AJ Styles Says WWE 'Has Good Things Going On,' Deserves Praise Alongside Criticism

When TKO and WWE started working together in 2023 after Vince McMahon stepped down from his position as the CEO of the promotion, the partnership was largely praised due to the improvement of the on-screen product and backstage morale. However, since Netflix became the new home of "WWE Raw" at the start of 2025, TKO has flooded the company's programming with advertisements, set record high prices for tickets, and reduced the amount of house shows that take place on a year-to-year basis. Today, the resentment from fans for TKO is at an all-time high, with the company even taking the blame for some of WWE's creative decisions, but according to AJ Styles on "The Phenomenally Retro Podcast," there's still positives to take away from both TKO and WWE.

"That is their job to take the blame for everything that is going on and that's their responsibility ... but we also, if they do something right, we need to give them praise like with AAA, they did something right. We can praise him for that. With other things, maybe they've done wrong. Freak it. That kind of sucked. We're entitled to opinions and stuff like that, but at the same time, you can't be boo boo face about everything that's going on because there is some good things that are going on with TKO. It's not going to be perfect all the time. Nobody is."

Today, the WWE Shareholders lawsuit against McMahon was supposed to begin, with the former CEO, Ari Emmanuel, Nick Khan and others expected to testify in a week-long trial about the deal between WWE and Endeavor, now TKO Group Holdings, and if it was fast tracked to keep McMahon in power in the midst of the sexual misconduct allegations against him. However, on Sunday, the trail was cancelled after it was reported that both parties had come to an agreement on the settlement.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Phenomenally Retro Podcast" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.