AJ Styles On His WCW Experience Motivating Recent WWE NXT Run

As a special guest on the latest episode of Out of Character with Ryan Satin, AJ Styles spoke about his recent appearances on NXT 2.0 to feud with Grayson Waller.

The two wrestled in the main event of the January 11th episode of NXT 2.0 where AJ Styles defeated Waller. The Phenomenal One mentioned whose idea it was to have him go to NXT and why he enjoyed the experience of working with Waller so much.

"It wasn't really a surprise because it was kind of my call," Styles mentioned. "I thought it would be a good idea to, guys like myself, go down to NXT and really say hey, this is what we do on RAW and SmackDown. So when you come up, there are no surprises, no nothing. This is what we expect, these are the rulers by the way and they are a little bit different than NXT but this is what they are up here.

"We're talking about guys who have dreamt of doing something and when you say 'nah we don't want you,' you're crushing their dreams and who knows what else, their confidence. I don't want that to happen, I know how bad that hurts. I was with WCW for a couple of months and then got my dreams crushed.

"Best thing that ever happened to me cause I wasn't ready to be in WWE at the time but I don't want to see that happen, I don't want that to happen to anyone. If they're not ready, then keep them down there so they can be and it's up to them whether or not they progress. But again, I just don't want to see them come up to the main roster and be sent home."

Continuing to talk about his experience in NXT, AJ Styles spoke about being a mentor to young talent and helping them ultimately achieve success by working with them. Styles also put a bow on his feud with Grayson Waller and mentioned how he enjoyed his hard-hitting style.

"That's what we should be doing," Styles said. "We should be passing it down so that we see the thing that we love. I love what I do but I want to see it progress throughout the years and if we don't make those superstars it's going to dwindle away into nothing.

"I did not handpick [Grayson], he was hand-picked by someone else but it was great. I'm a very hard-hitting kind of guy, I like to get snug and I told him what I wanted and he brought it. It takes me to a different level, when I get hit I'm like 'Yeah, let's go,' I like that. He brought it and it was great."

In January, WWE announced that AJ Styles had resigned with the company and Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman spoke with the star at the Royal Rumble media row in St. Louis about staying with the company. Styles stated that it was an easy decision to stay with the WWE and stated that "if they let me, I will retire here [in WWE]."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Out of Character with Ryan Satin with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.