Reactions to Nikki Bella's heel turn, John Cena defeating Dirty Dom and more, plus an exclusive interview with "The Phenomenal One" AJ Styles

21:57O'Shea:This has now become our wrestling little circle right here. Whenever I'm not with them, I'll get a text from my sister. you should see mom's face right now. Like, you know, like my mom is locked in. And shout out to Miss Kim. Yeah, my mom, she might have been watching the match. And we get word that she might have said, why does Stephanie keep wrestling these same girls over and over? And my sister said, well, we're just waiting for Nikki to turn. I mean, we said that two weeks ago, I think. But like on the money, as soon as it goes through the text, bam, cross the face. Nikki. I mean, we knew this was coming.

22:43O'Shea:I told you. Such an Eagles fan. Nikki is a natural heel. Yeah. She really is. Like, so, yeah, we saw this coming. Everyone yesterday on Twitter. They were hugging and wrestling. They was hugging way too much. Way too much. Way too much. Oh, girl power. Yeah, I love you. Oh, I love you. Last week, Nikki wrote a tweet about some girl saying Stephanie saved her, and Nikki was like, oh, I love her so much. And on Twitter, it's on Twitter. I tweeted, I think it was an Elmo gif going like, I said, oh, he'll turn incoming because it was kind of obvious. I didn't know it was going to be the very next week.

23:18O'Shea:Bro, no crying at baseball and ain't no hugging and wrestling. Nah, come on now. Doing too much hugging is coming. Next thing you know, your ass is going through a barbershop window. But so, you know, Nikki said that, you know, she had a she had a comment on social media, but I don't know. Dawn, I don't know if we have. Yes. Stephanie's response. And it was like, I trusted you. I gave you my honest friendship without truly knowing you. But you don't know me either. I don't forgive. I don't forget. And I've never shown mercy. Nikki, you play with fire and I'm the fire. Hey, man. Listen. Yeah. You read that.

23:57You ain't stumble or nothing, bro. Them classes is working. Well, you know, I read that like 18 times over the couple of days. You know what I'm saying? I stared at that picture a lot. You look at the picture. Listen. Yeah, man. It was. I can't even take that. Look, I'll give. I'll pat myself on the back for the Seth and the Paul Heyman thing coming, which I called weeks before it happened. This one, you should have seen. You should have known. You know. Especially when you would see some of the response, like people online were, you know, trash talking. Nikki and like she what does she what has she done what has she done yeah like really like if you're gonna ask that question you weren't paying attention no all this time but it kind of seemed like all right this was if that's how you feel then this is where we're gonna go so yeah

24:42O'Shea:thing now is what does this mean for the hard hours a hard hours who had a match you know by the way Raquel got some new gear oh baby

24:58absolutely so but now we had a sighting and that was a Mr. William Regal sighting and he just screamed out two words and we know what it meant and those two words were war games dude

25:14O'Shea:he did the thing that is what like such a good way to bring him out too So we mentioned that Kabuki Warriors are now the new tag team champions. They got help from Last Legend and Nia Jax. We got to work on the tag team name for them, too, at some point. And then, of course, Charlotte Alexa came out. Frenemies or whatever they are. Yeah, they came out. And then we had the return of everyone's favorite Rhea Ripley. EO came out. Yeah, EO came out. EO! Yep. EO came out. And I was like, oh, man, is Rhea about to come back? She's about to come back as a masked woman. We know that Rhea broke her nose in Australia a few weeks ago.

25:51So I don't think you can have a war games without Rhea in a mask, it seems like. Or Io, for that matter. She is Miss War Games. Yeah, that's true. Because you know what's going to happen. You know Io's climbing to the top of the cage with a trash can on her head and moonsaulting on somebody. You know that's going to happen. But right now we have Io, Rhea, Charlotte, Alexa. Stacked. Taking on Asuka, Kyrie, Lash, Nia. Now, do we add five?

26:17O'Shea:I swore it was five, right? I know traditional. So we'll see. If each team gets someone else, do they go with four? Because they put them in those cages. Yeah. I swear it's five on five. That's what I always thought. I mean, I guess they can run a four on four. You can do whatever you want. Because I know, first of all, let's also go to the men's. Yeah, let's get to the men's. When CM Punk came out there and Jey Uso spawned out of nowhere. that's the first time I seen Jey Uso come out without the music in forever he was just in the ring like Jey have you been sleeping here? weren't you expecting Jey to like clock pump because it felt like we were getting teased the hill turn for Jey the next week it's like no we're good yeah there's still room after war games what we decided to do with that but then whilst that was happening because you got the vision and Logan Paul, who honestly would have fit great in the original vision as well.

27:21O'Shea:But you got that happening. And then Cody was like, I mean, I'm here. And then I am in the building. So it runs out to help Jay because they got history. And, you know, him and CM Punk, you know, AEW. And then so they're locked in against the vision. That's three on three. Yeah, so we don't need. So I know for sure they got to get more, right? At least one. Man. So I don't know how many numbers War Games is anymore. Up is down. Left is black. Everything is all topsy-turvy. So we'll see where they go with it. Yeah, we got a few more days. They need one more. Absolutely. It might be a phenomenal choice.

28:07But he's a tag team champion. I mean, you're not going to be here for long, AJ. Get your ass on. He's there for a good time, not a long time. And then there's one other thing. So, yeah, Survivor Series, War Games. We've got a few days. We'll talk about that probably, you know, as we get some more information. But before we bring out our guests, there's one other thing that was – I'm going complete Frank Costanza from Seinfeld here. And I feel like I'm about to manage the Yankees. Well, no, but I definitely wouldn't manage the Yankees. I'd manage the Mets. You know that. But yeah, I'm going to air some grievances.

28:42You know, I got a lot of problems with you people. And I'm going to tell you about it. One of them is after Jay Cargill wins the WWE Women's Championship, I start seeing a lot of stories and comment sections and like on Facebook, different, you know, different sites I go to to keep up with the wrestling news. And one day it was almost like everybody was a sheep and decided to use the same three words. and when I tell you I saw at least six comments that said copy and paste. If I didn't see six and I didn't see one, but people complain that Jade Cargill they're like, oh, she's just a copy and paste from what she was at AEW.

29:22What is wrong with you people, man? Like, what do you complain? Do you think that she's going to come to WWE and get, what, a whole new look, a whole new wardrobe, a whole new move set? I'm a high flyer now. Yeah, she's going to start doing tope suicidas. You know what I mean? Come on. Hey, by the way, folks, you know who also came from another company and had the same gear and the same music and the same moveset? Yeah, that would be Cody Rhodes. I didn't hear one. Not one person. Not that one person complained that Cody Raheem was the same person he was from the spot that he came in before. But all of a sudden now it's a problem with Jade.

29:58Here's the deal. Jade Cargill is not going to put on Mac Classics. She's not going to put on six-star matches because that's not who she is, and that's not what she needs to do. It's also the reason why she should be a heel, because you don't always say a heel should be someone who you can't really relate to. When I told Tiffany Stratton, you're not a baby face. People don't look like you. Jade Cargill is chiseled out of stone. How can a normal person relate to Jade Cargill? Six foot tall with eight abs, face card that don't decline even with a scar. They had to scar her up to try to make her ugly.

30:34And guess what? It still didn't work. The woman is built like a comic book character. What do you want?

30:42O'Shea:So what do you want her to look like that and then become a Matt-based wrestler? Also, how much copy and paste can it be when she has the top title in the company? That didn't happen anywhere else. Copy and paste, how many women look like that? Come on, dog. So anyway, that was really frustrating me for the few days I was watching that. And I was like, I feel like I should say something to somebody. Then I remembered, oh, yeah, I got a microphone in front of me every week. So I'm going to say it. So I did. And if you don't like it, you're going to let us know. Guess what? I don't care because that's how it is.

31:13O'Shea:Just make sure that you share, like, and subscribe and quit your bitching. Because, like, what you going to do, man? Nothing. Bro, she is a powerhouse. I am here to be a powerhouse. And now I am the one with the title. I got the big girl belt. and there ain't nothing that nobody can do about it. You better hope. You better pray because this is what you want. She is running things, and she is running through everybody. Now, I want to see Jade Cargill do that, whether it's WWE, whether it's AEW, whether it's your mama's house, whether it's anywhere in the world. There's no way that you don't want to see Jade Cargill being a dominant powerhouse.

31:59O'Shea:Sorry that you, I don't know what you thought was going to happen. She did the tag team thing for a little bit. That was successful. Very much. Had a great storyline. And now she's running things and she should be dominant. Because look at the lady. The lady is a Mortal Kombat character. So get mad, get glad, heavyweight trash bags. And just watch TV. And also you want more copy and pasting. Wait till she gets her own group of baddies again. Because I can already see that coming. Who'd she have in AEW as a baddie? It was someone named Red Velvet, and she had red hair. And who's she wrestling first?

32:36There's B-Fab, and she's got red hair. There's me, Chen. Oh, man. Guess what? It's coming. All right. Y 'all can copy and paste these foot in y 'all ass. But you know what? Enough of that, man. Let's get to our guy.

32:53O'Shea:A little too negative around here. It's Wednesday. I feel like talking to a legend, dog. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities.

33:25Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time? Or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With Sleep Score, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep duration. Then, every morning it combines these factors into an easy-to-understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from okay to very high. Know your sleep score with Apple Watch, iPhone 11 or later required. It is an absolute honor for TJ and I to bring on our next guest.

34:05O'Shea:It's always a good feeling around here when we get to be with wrestling royalty, you know. And this man has touched gold in all corners of the world. Every continent almost. Yeah, whether you know him from the Bullet Club or being the king of the six-sided ring. or you know him as the face that runs the place. He is, in the arcade world, he is a dollar in a world of quarters. There's no other way to describe this dude. Ladies and gentlemen, the phenomenal one, AJ Styles. A dollar in the world of quarters. That is awesome. If I had room, I was going to throw my hood up and then do it, but I realized I would have knocked the microphone out the way.

34:49But what's up, AJ? Pleasure to have you, brother. What's up, guys? Man, I had to dig into the crates, the t-shirt crates today, and I broke out an old Biz Cliz t-shirt. Yeah, I appreciate using Biz Cliz on there, all right? That's a cool shirt, too, man. It's simple. And you see, I like the way you popped out in this because everyone else is in black and white, and you got your blue glove on, and you can see styles on there. Yeah, that's pretty cool, man. I never thought about that, but yeah, that's pretty cool. Thank God for gloves, I guess, and that I was wearing them. Right. So I got a little bit.

35:20O'Shea:Now, I mean, there's a man, we got a lot to get to, but we like to start off usually with these interviews with asking you, you know, just from the beginning, what was it? What was the moment that made you get bit by the wrestling bug? What started all of this? This wonderful journey you've been on. Well, I can tell you. As soon as I took my first bump, first ball in a rink, in an actual rink, like they were trying to beat the crap out of me so that I'd quit, you know, one of those kind of, hey, let's see if he can do it before we even start training this kid. Yeah. I knew right then and there that I could do this.

36:00And nobody could tell me different. Nobody.

36:03O'Shea:Now, can you remember that first welcome to wrestling moment, a bump that might have, you know, took the soul out of you a little bit? Well, you know, that's the thing is I was young back then, so things didn't affect me the way they do now, right? So I was happy to take the highest backdrop you could possibly give me. You know, I wanted to take the chair shots. I wanted to go through these tables. I wanted to do all these things. So I was invincible at that time. Not now, mind you. You know, when you're young, man, you're invincible. At least you think you are. Absolutely. So back in high school, you were a two-time state wrestling champion, went on to college, and apparently you got invited by some friends to go watch a match.

36:50Is that the moment that you were like, yeah, this is for me? So they were big wrestling fans, and they asked me if I wanted to come with them to train, and that's when I got in there and took that first bump. so they ended up moving on to something else and I stuck with wrestling so I wonder how they feel about the whole situation I'm sure they're they're happy for me but I'm like you know it's just the craziest thing a guy from Gainesville Georgia was able to make it in the WWE and TNA and New Japan

37:21O'Shea:and all these different places now what was uh I mean I guess what were you watching you know what What was some of your inspirations back then, the guys that helped build the mind of AJ? So, you know, I didn't have the opportunity to watch a lot of wrestling when I was younger because I didn't have cable. So we had to go out and turn the antenna and hopefully pick up. And so I was a big fan of the Road Warriors. That's who I loved as a kid. But as far as inspiration goes, it wasn't one guy, you know, that I really, you know, that's who I want to be like. But, you know, the Billy Kidman, Lance Storm, these athletes.

37:58That's what I was drawn to is the athletes of the time. Not necessarily the biggest names, although I was a big fan of Sting because, I mean, he looks so freaking cool. How could you not love him? But it wasn't just one thing. I guess I started picking from a lot of different people, thank God, because it allowed me to be different and not like everybody else.

38:21O'Shea:Now, you are just the same way that you had your bunch of people that you picked from. Dude, you have inspired a generation of wrestlers now, and you see so many people are influenced by you. What does that feel like? What is that to know that you left such a mark on something that you just went with your buddies to go train one day? It's crazy, right? But that's cool. I mean, if guys are doing my moves, if girls are doing my moves, that's awesome. I want them to. That just means that I've made an impact in the business that people have watched AJ Styles and go, I'd like to try that. I'd like to see if I could do that.

39:03Because I did the same thing. I was trying to shoot in star presses and 450s and all kinds of stuff like that because I saw other guys do it. So the fact that if someone does the Styles Clash, I don't care. Thank you for doing it, man. It's impacted the wrestling world, and that's okay. I like that. I was going to save this for later, but you brought it up now. So how did you come up with the Styles Clash? This is the dumbest. So my little brother-in-law, I'm sitting on the porch at my girlfriend's house. I wasn't married to a sister yet. And they were trying to powerbomb each other. But they couldn't get each other up, you know.

39:45So they just kind of dangle upside down and they're talking to each other. And I go, huh. So I walked over there and I gave my little brother-in-law the first ever Styles Clash on the trampoline. Wow. Hey, what, like, how did it, like, what made you just hook the arm? Like, what made you do that? I just popped in there. It just popped in there when I was sitting on the porch and walked over there and I just kind of hooked his little arms. I mean, he's, he's five years old, you know, and he's five, his little arms, gave him the style splash and he took it perfectly. So you mentioned your wife, Wendy, and you guys have been together.

40:25You were high school sweethearts. And what I understand is she wanted to go on a date and she wanted you to take her to a movie. And you were like, I got a better idea. Where did you take her on one of your first dates? Actually, here's the thing. I didn't have a car. Okay. So she picked me up. And I also didn't have money. and she paid for us to have two junior Whoppers at Burger King. Oh, man. Good woman, right? Exactly. You fed me? Let me tell you, that's one you hold on to right there, brother. I'm still holding on. Yes, sir. I knew I had a good woman right from the get-go. I just tried not to screw it up.

41:08But did you take her to a wrestling match one of the first times you? So once I started wrestling, there was no dates because I had to wrestle every weekend, and I would take her with me. And God bless her. She sat through all that painful wrestling that she had to see. I mean, because what kind of boyfriend does that to the girlfriend? It's not, I mean, if you've ever been to an indie show. Yeah, we have. They're not the most glamorous places you've ever seen. Yeah, you know. I mean, it is what it is. Yeah, I mean, it is what it is, exactly. But, you know, we did get to spend time together, and there were moments where I said, listen, one day this is going to pay off.

41:46and it just so happens for once in my life, I was right and it has paid off. Shout out to Wendy for holding you down, man.

41:55O'Shea:Yeah, that's right. I got to ask about this first Styles Clash on a five-year-old. How old was you? My thought was, you're like, it's what girlfriend's brother. I'm thinking, oh, he's probably 16, 17, 18. You're like, he was five foot. Come here, little buddy. Which is great, because that's the most fun you can have with kids. You can choke slam them, power bomb them, do anything to them. Oh, yeah. He was one of those happy accidents, you know? So he was a little bit younger than his brothers and sisters. But, you know, hey, it got the styles class out of it. How old were you hitting this style effort?

42:33I had to be, maybe he was a little bit older, I'm just guessing, because I just remember him being little. Because I started when I was 20, 21. So it wasn't too long after that. maybe 22 maybe 23 when i came up with that move out of the blue so now something that uh we we

42:53O'Shea:like to ask but i see you weren't necessarily watching though is there a time where either you know you having the knowledge behind the curtain just any any point in time as a fan can you remember remember a time when wrestling broke your heart? What I like to say on the show is watching as a kid, when I saw Hulk Hogan crash through the Rocks ambulance and almost kill him, my whole day was ruined. You know, a lot of people bring up the Undertaker streak, being taken out by Brock. Is there a moment where you either saw a finish or something like, wow, you know, like that stung a little bit? Yeah, I think we all were kind of wondering why Brock, you know, was able to beat The Undertaker.

43:41Everybody wanted him to keep the streak as long as he could. I think that was the one thing I was like. And, I mean, if we're talking about real life breaking your heart, I was watching the pay-per-view when Owen passed away. You know, like that was some crazy stuff because you had no idea what was going on. You just heard rumors and stories, and it was just like, wow, one of the best to ever do it. If you ever go back and you look at Japanese wrestling, there's a lot of Owen Hart in there, you know, really good stuff. So, you know, I just kind of remember going, wow, this is tragic. Like, this is crazy that Owen Hart, one of the best to ever do it.

44:19We're not going to be able to see him in the ring anymore. So that was a heartbreaker for me. Absolutely. So you started training in 98 under Rick Michaels. Can you explain to all of our NCW fans who was Mr. Olympia? Me. There was a chance to get in the ring, and I was like, yes, I want to get in the ring. I want to try this thing out. And he said, Mr. Olympia, I said, I don't care. Put no mask on me, and I'll do it. So, yeah, I had a singlet that I'd taken from college because I never gave it back, so I guess I stole it. Turned it inside out. had my wrestling shoes and yeah, Mr. Olympia was reborn that night because I'm pretty sure he exists somewhere.

45:06Of course.

45:07O'Shea:Absolutely. There's nothing too new under the sun, especially when it comes to wrestling. Now, you've been able to have this long-standing career. You've seen all corners of the world. I like to say you've been around the world and aye, aye, aye. Is there anything that you feel is missing a little bit in this new age of wrestling? Also, is there anything that you're glad that it's gone? I can tell you the one thing that's missing. I still, to this day, I will go over at my buddy's house before we work out and we will watch old school wrestling. It's what we do. That's kind of our thing. The one thing that I think is missing the most is selling.

45:49The way they used to sell back in the day, man, they really made you believe that this hurt. You know, that this guy's in pain, and I just feel like we've gotten away from that, and I'm just as guilty as anybody. But if we could take it back and make less is more kind of thing happen, I think that would be best for everybody. And what was the other? What was the one thing that you're glad is gone, right? Is that the one thing it was? You know what? After taking them for so many years, I'm glad chair shots are gone.

46:22O'Shea:Yeah, I mean, that's a good reply. I mean, you try to find ways of making him hurt less by, like, jumping into it when he's throwing it. You're kind of putting your head into it so he doesn't get a full swing. But at the end of the day, it never feels good. And I'd love to tell you that chairs in the back feel good, but they don't. Kurt Angle almost knocked my soul out of my body. I mean, there's been some hits from a chair shot that are pretty strong. Some guys swing them, and you got to. You got to. Yeah. And we had Mick Foley. Mick Foley has taken quite a few chair shots. But something that you said that Mick also spoke on, because when we had Mick Foley on, he talked about how he's not the most athletic.

47:11O'Shea:He's not going to outperform people in that aspect, but he was always going for the moment, stealing the show moments. And I heard you recently say that a lot of people won't remember matches and, you know, all the things that you put into it. But those moments, what are some of the ones that you remember getting off where you were like, yeah, that was the one that was a highlight? Well, like as far as moments go, I mean, that's what it's all about. If you can create moments, people will remember those forever. There was a good moment between John Cena and I at SummerSlam the first time we got in the ring together, and people were excited to see it.

47:50That was a really, really cool moment. But, and then, you know, I can throw it back to the match John and I just had. We created a lot of different moments in that match. And it wasn't just moves. It was like I was trying to create a moment based on what I was wearing. Because a lot of people don't know, but there was a magazine out that had John Cena and AJ Styles. I was in TNA. He was in WWE, of course. Well, I was wearing the gear that I had on in that magazine. So for those who put it together, it was cool for them, I guess. For those who aren't old enough to remember it, they're like, well, he's wearing shorts, I guess.

48:31But then you have the moments where the sister Abigail, and he hits me with that. You could see that moment. and there were just a lot of throwbacks in that match if you knew the history of AJ Styles and John Cena. I think most people knew John's, maybe half knew what AJ Styles did because we did, for guys that we wrestled, it was kind of like, well, you know what? It was exactly the way Triple H said it. It was like a love note to pro wrestling. That's what we wanted to create out there. All the people that we wrestled, all the things that we've done, we're just going to bash it all together and just kind of make history with that match.

49:15That's what we were trying to do anyway. I think a lot of people enjoyed it. I did. Absolutely. Yeah, I had this question saved for later in the interview, but since we brought it up now, and it's literally what I wrote, it was like you and John's love letter to pro wrestling and to all your former opponents with all the moves that you guys were using. It was one of those matches, AJ, where as a wrestling fan, I personally sat back, and I've been watching since the early 80s. I just sat back and had a smile on my face, man. And it was just fun. It was just a fun match to watch. You guys seemed like you were having a blast.

49:54And something really cool happened there. Right as Alicia Taylor is about to introduce you, John hands her a slip of paper. and he wrote your introduction. Now, my question is, did you know that was going on? Did you know he had written something? Or were you just as shocked in hearing this for the first time like the rest of us? When I heard the definition of total nonstop action, I was like, wait, were they talking about me? And so I was like, oh, okay, this is, when I realized, I was like, this, John, like you could see me look at him, what did you do? You know, kind of thing. and it was pretty freaking cool, man.

50:38That was an introduction I had no idea that I was getting, but he found a way to make me feel just as important as he was in that ring, and it's very much appreciative. Well, AJ, I don't know if you know this, but you are just as important in the world of wrestling, my brother. Don't ever let anyone tell you or make you think that you ain't. I appreciate you saying that. I appreciate you saying that because when I look in the mirror, I'm just this old beat up man who, you know. Old beat up man who is in the best. I don't know internally how you feel, but just from the bird's eye and looking at you physically, you look like a freaking superhero right now, bro.

51:16So it's hard to say. I'm hiding it well.

51:23But, you know, I'm just I'm blessed, man. There's no doubt about that. to be able to, I've been hurt, you know, for, I felt like two years in a row, I got hurt, broke my foot. And then I freaking had a little frank injury, which almost ended my career. I thought it was over. But, you know, I was able to fight back and be able to get back in the ring and finish on my feet. That's important to me. It's just like, I'm the one who gets to decide when I finish, not an injury, not someone else. I get to decide that.

51:52O'Shea:yeah and you know with john on the farewell tour it was you know announced that uh you're gonna be riding off into the sunset on your own time which is something that not a lot of guys get to do choose when they go out and and choose you know the way that they do it but i do i do gotta say i've heard you say that you and cm punk you guys haven't had that 101 in the wwe yet I would love to see that. And first, let me get your statement on that one first, on you and seeing Punk. I would love to work Punk. I think it would be great. Our style is very much the same. We've wrestled each other 20 years ago.

52:35And to throw it back, to be able to do it again, one-on-one match, I think it would be a lot of fun. I don't know if it's going to happen because we don't write the stuff. But if it's there, it's there. If it isn't, it isn't. And it's just like you said, I could ride off into the sunset and be okay with it. I don't have to have an AJ Styles tour, retirement tour. I don't have to have that. I don't need that. I just want to be able to do it my own way. And literally, you don't have to know that I even left. I could just be gone. It's just one of those things that it was eating me up inside, and I was acting weird.

53:14And then I was like, what am I doing? I get to retire that's the thing a lot of people don't get to retire they have to retire and I get to and so I'm just going to enjoy what time I have left and if I have to you'll never have to know I'm gone I'm just like oh yeah by the way I've retired and I'm okay with that

53:37O'Shea:Phil, my man CM Punk he's a friend of mine and let me tell you something he was our very first guest He was the guy that helped kick the show off. He put us on the mat with this. Yeah, with our podcast, No Contest Wrestling. So let me let you know right now, I am all for pushing propaganda to get this match done. Now, somebody else who I've also spoke about pushing the propaganda, our last guest was the TNA world champion, my man Mike Santana. And Mike Santana had this to say about you. If we can play the clip. I've been very blessed in my career to have worked with so many different people, especially people that I grew up watching.

54:22Guys that I played with their action figures, guys that I've idolized. You know what I mean? Like, I've been very, very blessed. But there's only one dream match that I'm chasing. There's one left for me. And that is AJ Styles. AJ Styles for me is truly like there's no one like him and I think when he's gone there ain't gonna be no one like him you know and the fact that like he hasn't been in TNA what since 2016? 2015? The fact that he still recognized still to this day after every amazing thing that he's done uh since leaving the fact that he's still synonymous with tna and still considered the face in the original homegrown talent of tna just speaks volumes bro and again the fact that i'm also like in this position as as the face of the company and another homegrown talent of TNA.

55:34Like, I think the story is there. The story writes itself. And to be able to get in there with him and learn from him and just say that I went toe-to-toe with one of the absolute best in professional wrestling ever. That is it. And if I could do it for the TNA world title in a TNA ring, that's it right there.

56:01O'Shea:Just a message. Just a message, man. We're just here to help move things along. Honestly, the way he's talking, he sounds like me with some of the legends that I've gotten to wrestle. I just want to be able to learn from them and be in the ring with them and just say that I had the opportunity to wrestle them. Like, I get it, man. I really do. I was hoping that this would happen. I really was. But then I realized it probably never could as far as WWE letting me do that. And I'll tell you why. It's because as soon as I open those gates for the main roster talent, now everybody's going to want to do it.

56:41So I don't know if it's going to happen, if I'm being honest. But I would like to. Don't get me wrong. What a moment it was when I was able to go back. But, yeah, I just don't see that match. I don't see a match happening as of right now. Even with the seemingly partnership at NXT? Yeah, because it's an – exactly, though. It's NXT. It's got the partnership, not the main roster talent. Gotcha. So, and listen, I wish I could do it. I think I should be the only guy to do it, but that's being very selfish. So, we'll see what happens in the future. I don't know necessarily. but we'll find out together.

57:23O'Shea:Listen, all right, TJ, I want you to hear. There was, as of right now, there was, I'd like to. There's hope. All right, you got to have faith. So you're saying this. That's right. Yes, you got to have faith. And this is the first seed of propaganda from the No Contest Wrestling. I'll say this. Literally, as I'm talking to you guys, I'm coming up with ideas in my head. So there you go. AJ, listen, you know, a Chia Pet grows in three days, man. You know, you got to plant the seed. You know, you got to put some good soil on it. This was the seed getting planted with Mike. I don't want to hear that it can't happen because we're wrestling fans.

58:01We're wrestling fans. We need to see this. And by the way, just real quick, you said something earlier that really made me mad, AJ. You said that you could just leave and no one would care. How dare you, sir? How dare you think that no one would care that the phenomenal one is gone? You got to stop that, man. Because, you know, when I heard that next year was the last year, I was kind of like, is he short? Like, does it have to be?

58:22O'Shea:You heard Mike say, man, when he's gone, there'll never be another one like it. There truly won't be, man. Well, there are some times, and this is my own mind getting in the way, my own bad thoughts getting in the way. Sometimes I'm at work, I'm like, I don't think I'm at her there. You know? So, and it's just, there's a lot going on and trying to deal with that reality. and making new stars all at the same time. And John's seen us having his retirement tour. I get it, man. There's a lot going on. And that's why I say it was in my head. It was messing with me. So I got to get that out of my head and be okay with just walking away and doing my own thing.

59:05You know, speaking of you saying you didn't matter, I don't know if this is something you want to get into, if this was a storyline. But a few months ago, I guess on Raw, you had said that there were people that didn't want you there. Was that something that was, you know, was that a work? Was that a shoot? Was that building up to something? Is that something you just want to not talk about? It was something I was trying to set up that I don't think is going to happen. So, and it's not necessarily not true, but I'm not talking about Triple H. So I wanted to clear that. But, yeah, that's about all I can say about it.

59:43Got it.

59:43O'Shea:Copy that. Now, I mean, you did, a lot of people didn't think they'd ever see you in the WWE ring. And so I would love to kind of get that feeling that you had that Royal Rumble. First of all, coming in at, what, number three? That was wild. That's not usually the spot for, you know, a surprise of that magnitude. So what was that like, that first Royal Rumble in hearing the pop? Yeah, because, you know, in the documentary you did, you said that, And we brought this up to, I can remember, one of our previous guests, and I brought this up to them. You said that you didn't think that people would know you, which is, as you like to say, is crazy.

1:00:25But, yeah, what was that day like? You got to think, there's the WWE bubble, and some wrestling fans don't watch anything other than WWE. But the fact that it was in Orlando was a good thing for me because, of course, TNA ran out of Orlando the whole time. And so I was like, well, there's got to be a couple that might know who I am. And I've been gone for two years in Japan, and I've been coming back to the States to do indies, but that's way different. I basically haven't been on mainstream TV in two years. So that was a real thing. I didn't know what to expect. And, I mean, coming out number three, oh, my gosh.

1:01:07Thank God. Thank God people wanted to see AJ Styles, or I would have been doomed. By the way, Vince didn't know who I was at all. No. So I'm just throwing that at you. He thought it was like, ah, it's just a fluke, a flash of the pan. It's just what I know. So I wasn't even on the show on Raw the next day. I think it was the next day, yeah. Oh, really? Bro. They put me on it after that, and I went and had this match, and he literally told me, he's like, I got 100 guys that can do what you do. And I understand why he was saying that because I was trying to be what I thought WWE wanted me to be rather than be AJ Styles.

1:01:52And once he told me what he needed, and I know you've heard this story before, he was like, I need a pit bull. And I was like, I was like, I know that guy. Yeah, for sure. You know, AJ, you are, speaking of a pit bull, You know, we're jumping forward and backward and side to side. But you're somebody, when I watch you in the ring, I feel like everything you do hurts the person that you're doing it to, man. Just you make it seem as though you are really putting 150 % in every punch and every kick. Was that part of your style that you kind of brought out a little bit more once you got there? Because he made that pit bull comment?

1:02:36No, that's kind of who I was. That's what I like to do. I like to make everything I do look painful, as realistic as I possibly can. I want them to think that AJ Styles is one pissed-off son of a gun. I want it to show in my face and how deliberate I am with what I do. That's kind of my thing. That's what I want to do. Easier said than done, it's not like I just got to wrestling. I was that guy. I had to figure out who I was. and I understand that I'm not six foot. I'm under six foot, so I have to look meaner than everybody else. So a lot of times that's what I'm doing. There's no wasted movement.

1:03:12At least I try not to have any wasted movement. A kick's just not a kick and a chop's just not a chop. I want to make every one of them count.

1:03:19O'Shea:Makes sense. Now, I know that there has to be some sort of balance. you go out and you know you you go out to these crowds and these arenas and you never know who's seeing you for the first time while you're there can you talk about you know because there's a lot of new age wrestlers who try to do the whole move set in every match can you talk about what that finding that balance is of like when to save things for bigger moments or even bigger events and not to burn out your moveset. Yeah, there's a time and a place for everything. And I have movesets for the beginning and the middle and the ending part of the match.

1:04:04And so I've got a plethora of them. And so I don't have to use every one of them. And I'm only going to use the big ones when it matters the most, when I think we're going to get the biggest reaction. That's when we use them. When you're young, man, you just want to do everything you got. And I get it. You're trying to hope that people see you and go, wow, this kid's amazing. But once you learn the psychology of everything, it doesn't work that way. And once you get to where you have time limits on your match, there's no time for that. Again, we don't want any wasted movement within that match.

1:04:45We want to make everything count. So sometimes you have to be unselfish and make sure the other guy is getting his stuff in because I don't want to squash anybody. I want us both to look good because if we both look good, that means either I lost to a guy who was really good or I beat a guy who was really good. So I want to do my best to make sure everybody gets over the match. I want to sell the match, not just myself.

1:05:13O'Shea:Is there anybody that comes to mind when you think, when you are, you know, face-to-face with him or when you have been face-to-face with him, where you know, like, this guy's going to take care of me? Like, is there any, like, gold star standard where you're like, yeah, we're going to put on something good and he's going to make sure I'm all right? The first name that pops up is Finn Balor. Like, when I get in the ring with him, and I've been in the ring with him several times, but here recently as a tag team, and it's just like, man, this is going to be so easy. being in the ring with this guy.

1:05:43I don't have to worry about anything. And it's just like that. This is one of the guys. And there's several. Several of those guys. Jimmy and Jay Uso, you don't have to worry about those guys. We know we're going to have a banger. There's a couple guys. I don't know why John and I have so many great matches. I really don't. I'm being honest. Because we're nothing alike. But we have this timing together in the ring that I've had with very few guys. When you get in there with your best friends now, they're allowed to hit you harder. When I'm in there with Joe, man, just come at me, dude. I'm going to let my body do whatever it's going to do when you hit me.

1:06:25I love working him because he looks more violent than he is. Christopher Daniels is another one of those guys. Just amazing. I can go on and on about so many guys that you're just like, oh my God, dude, did we just have a five-star match on accident? it, you know, because it was just, it's just timing. Let's talk about that. Since you, I love how you like, you're bringing these people up and it's leading to questions that we have in October, 2017, you did the P TLC, PLE now, the PPD back in the day, but you, you, you wrestled the demon and this was right after you came off a tour, a match in Chile.

1:07:00Then you flew in. Yeah. I don't know if you guys have heard that story, but it was crazy. Talk to us. I think it was in either one of or close to the last match of the show when we were in Chile. And they go, hey, we've got to put you on first because we're going to have you go and wrestle Finn Balor, Bray Wyatt sick. So I'm like, oh, all right. So literally, the first match, took a shower, got on a plane, flew me to Florida, got on a private plane, one of Vince's private planes, and flew to wherever we were. I don't even know at this point. I slept on the plane on the little couch they had and got to the show and had an amazing match with Finn Balor it was a crazy night but you know what man I was stoked that they asked me to do it that they knew that I was going to be able to pull it off and have a great match with him and it was, it was a great match This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome You think you know a browser but Gemini and Chrome, that's new It can help you with practically anything on the web like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.

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1:08:49Terms and conditions apply. You know, sometimes I'm of the thought process, right, that, like, sometimes you can just have a wrestling match. And story is necessary most of the time. But I feel like sometimes you could just put two people in the ring and let them go. And that's kind of what it seemed like. And I remember the fans, the crowd seemed so hot. You know, the two Bullet Club leaders going at it. And you guys just, man, it was beautiful to watch. And then at the end, throwing up the two sweet to each other, man. That was like, it was just one of those moments as a wrestling fan. You just, especially if you're someone, right, who, like you said, if you only watch one organization, then you probably felt a certain, you had a certain way.

1:09:32But if you watch a little bit of everything like we like to do and we kind of knew the backstory and understood it, man, that was too sweet. It was a cool moment. It was a cool moment. But, you know, I think I heard or maybe it was in an interview or something. Viz was like, what are they doing? You know, we're too sweet to each other. But I don't think he cared as much once he got the pop too. So it was little things. Again, that's a moment, right? that we had together.

1:10:01O'Shea:Now, I want to talk about a personal moment because you, like I said, there's a lot of people that didn't think you would ever be in a WWE ring. I don't know about your own thoughts, but you made it, and you made an impact. He made an impact. Ah, I see what you did there. Come on, man. That's what we do here. But you won the big one. You were WWE champion. So I want to know the journey that you went through going around the world, all the locker rooms you had been to get to what the world knows as the top of the top and have the hardware. That first night as champion of the world, what did it feel like laying your head on the pillow as WWE champion?

1:10:50Well, I can tell you this, man. I had dealt with the fact that I was never going to have a like a Wrestlemania moment I'd never be in WWE I just man at the time I'm 37 36 around in there and I just I mean I'm an older guy and if they haven't come to me at this point they never will and I was okay with that I dealt with that but then going on and as quickly as it happened even being told I'm going to be in the Royal Rumble match was pretty quick like oh my god you know and then not knowing whether i can wear my loco my logo on my gear that's the reason why i didn't throw it up um at the royal rumble was because i didn't know if i could use it they had to make sure it was kind of like i own it you know well we gotta so that's why my gear looked different um but then going on to wrestle dean ambrose and having a cool freaking really cool match with him man had a lot of great matches with him he's another one of those guys It's just unbelievable to be in the ring with.

1:11:54It was surreal. I was like, wow, I am the WWE champion. And I'll tell you what was cooler than that. Because we had to take the championships home with us at that time. And my wife was like, hey, some of our friends, you know, they want you to bring the belt over. They want to see it. I'm like, okay. So I go over there, and they had thrown a party for me for being the WWE champion. And I thought that was really cool. like they totally got me. I was like, why is my brother over here? So it was a really neat, a nice surprise. And it just, it showed me how proud they are of me, you know, for doing this crazy wrestling thing.

1:12:34And it was a really cool moment. Now, we definitely want to continue talking about, you know, your journey and everywhere you went. But back in, I take it back again, back in 2002, you had to try out with WWE. And you, they were going to sign you. and you turned down the chance to work for them. Can you tell us, our fans, what went into that thought process? Listen, this was hard for me because, of course, I wanted to make it in the WWE. I wanted to at least train to be better. And I went up there and I had a decent training, I guess you'd say. They just kind of go out there and they offered me the deal.

1:13:16And mind you, I had to move to Cincinnati. for$500 a week. And I know this is a couple years ago, so it's not terrible money, but I was also making that at my regular job. Right. And they took out taxes. What was your regular job, AJ? I delivered bottled water. Okay.

1:13:36O'Shea:People need water. You know, it is what it is. More importantly, you need to eat, so that's why the job's important. Actually, I think my first job when I went to WCW, I was delivering bottled water. By the time I got to the tryout with WWE, I was a non-emergency ambulance driver, which means I have a van and I go pick up people from the nursing home mostly and I take them to the doctor for the doctor's appointments. And as crazy as it's one of my favorite jobs because of the older folk that I got to talk to and interact with and say hello to. So I really actually enjoyed that job. But again, my wife was in college to be a school teacher, and I just didn't think it was right for me to go off and leave her and her move into her parents' house, back into her parents' house.

1:14:25That is not how a husband does things. And so I made sure that we put her priorities, her dream first, and then let's just see what happens. And you know what? it turned out to be the best thing I could have done.

1:14:42O'Shea:Absolutely. Now, what's up? We're going to get back to wrestling. Yeah, yeah. He's chomping at the bit. And I know you probably want this too, so have at it. Listen, I respect you as a gamer so much because I've seen your collection. I've seen how much pride you put. I am one of the most unorganized people on earth. but the way that you got your stuff put together and the arcade machines and everything, what does gaming mean to you? And when did your love of gaming start? So I can tell you that for my love of gaming, it started with the Atari. The first game I ever flipped, I don't know how old you guys are.

1:15:28You look pretty young. I wish. You didn't beat the Atari games. You didn't beat them. You had to flip them. where the points flip and you're back to zero. That's how you beat a game. The first game I beat, I remember, I think it was in second or third grade, I beat Asteroids, and I was stoked. I loved to be able to do that, and I just loved video games. And, you know, years later, the Nintendo came out, and I was like, oh, my God, this is the most amazing system I've ever seen. The graphics are incredible. And asked my parents for one, even put on a show, I don't know if you guys remember Weird Al Yankovic and the fat.

1:16:10You know I'm fat. Instead of bad, Michael Jackson's fat, he was fat. And I had to, like, I love that freaking video, so I went and performed it for my mom and dad to get a Nintendo. So wait a minute, you did a little song and dance and they rewarded you? Oh, man, I put the pillow under my shirt and everything. Because I was a big Michael Jackson fan anyway, So I had the moves. I could do the moves. You know, you get on the kitchen floor with your socks, I'll start doing the moonwalk. Yeah. Everybody does that. But yeah, I didn't think it worked. And they surprised me at a department store. And I'm not joking with you guys.

1:16:49I almost passed out. Yeah. Like I turned white. And I was like, oh, whose is that? And like joking around because I knew it wasn't mine. And my mom said yours. I was like, oh, my gosh.

1:16:58O'Shea:Yeah. And so it changed everything, dude. I just love being able to, whatever's bothering me, whatever I'm going through, if I can get into a video game, I can get lost in that video game for a little bit. I don't have to think about everything else. It's just my time for me to have fun and not hurt anybody. I've gotten into trouble many a times by playing games that, Uncharted, for example. I don't know if you've ever had. Oh, yeah. It's ridiculously awesome. You're playing a movie. I pissed my wife off so much Because I would just be hours on this game Playing, it's so much fun But my rebuttal to her would be like Well you know what, I guess I'll just get dressed To go to the bar and get drunk Meaning there's worse things That I could be doing Bro, this is my argument Because there's a bunch of people Out there Trying to say that The gamers, that we're not good people Would you prefer me to be out in these streets?

1:17:58O'Shea:because it would be real easy. As a woman, you know where I'm at. I'm just at my game. You're like, man. Thank you, dude. You're speaking my language, man. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying it could be worse. I've spent this much time on the video game. Exactly. I wanted to ask you about this moment because, TJ, I saw what can only be described as one of the most rigged fights I've ever seen in my life involving AJ. They had him play against that dude in the gold jacket. You played 2K against that guy, and he just cheesed Brock Lesnar's German suplex on you a thousand times, and then he wins.

1:18:40O'Shea:And it was the most frustrating thing to watch as a gamer. I was like, why'd y 'all bring AJ out here to lose? Yeah. Well, you know what? If they would have put on No Mercy on his Nintendo 64, I would have smoked that kid. Exactly, dude. You know, but I haven't played the game. Oh, no. I didn't know what I was doing at all and still don't. Rigged. Rigged. So I don't know why I was picked. Oh, he's a gamer. That's like, listen, I enjoy my friends who I've met in NASCAR. They're really great people. I don't watch NASCAR. You know? You know, like I love them and they're great. But, you know, that's not one of the things I've been able to do.

1:19:23And it's amazing everything they do in NASCAR. My dad watched it. Just because I have this southern accent doesn't mean I'm a NASCAR fan. Hence the reason why they assume that, right? Exactly. Every time. Mind you, they're great people, and I've enjoyed every moment that I've had to spend with those guys. It's just not something I'm into.

1:19:43O'Shea:All right. Now, if I put you – we're going to get back into wrestling, I promise everybody, but I've got to get this off because I'm talking to an angel. I have a feeling he really enjoys this man. He's talking to an angel about video games. All right. You're on a desert island, man. I can only give you five games for you to take. Can you list five of them for me? Listen, mine is going to go back older than most people. A lot of people don't like Super Mario Bros. 2. I do. Nostalgia is a big part of that, and it's a really fun game. In fact, at the time that I'm talking to you, I'm going through Doki Doki Panic because I have it, and I'm playing it.

1:20:20If you don't know Doki Doki Panic, it was the reason, like, Doki Doki Panic turned into Super Mario Bros. 2. Doki Doki Panic is a game in Japan, and then Nintendo of America turned it into Super Mario Bros. 2. So, I love that game. It's so different. It makes sense. Mario wakes up from a dream. That's why nothing made sense. That's why all new characters. I get it. But then Super Mario Bros. 3 comes out, and it's freaking amazing, dude. It blows two out of the water. It's just so good. The Uncharted series, if I can just name all those, are amazing games. They're not open world, but they are a little bit.

1:21:04The sandbox isn't that big, so I like that. Mike Tyson's Punch-Out is a classic. Yeah. I have that on my Play Choice 10. If you don't know what that is, look it up. It's an amazing arcade.

1:21:16O'Shea:With two screens. Two screens on that page. Two screens. I got two. Yeah, that's right. And last, I mean, there was a time where this is a toss-up for me. Okay. Because as much as I love Madden and NCAA, the last great games for the systems were in 14. Okay. The reason why I say that is because I could spend every second playing Madden and then NCAA, finish the season, and I'd upload my guys from NCAA into Madden. Into Madden. And now you can't do that. So guess what? I'm not playing your stupid game. I would spend hours doing this, and they ruined it for me. I was so excited about this coming back.

1:22:04Why is that so hard to upload guys into Madden, into the draft?

1:22:09O'Shea:I played 30 years of Madden. I think it was 14, or maybe it was 15. I don't know. But the last time you could upload guys. I played 30 years, 30 seasons, every one of them, every one of the games where you could not play anymore. That's all you can play is 30. Yeah. That's how much I love that game. Dude, you would be able to have your college players, you know, you go through your full four years, and then it would let you, like, export it. And then when you put Madden in, you import your player into Madden. And so it's like you continue his life. I never knew about it. Yeah, they go to the draft, dude, and you can draft them because you know.

1:22:47I mean it was man it was so awesome I love doing that and that's what I did for every one of the NCAAs and Madden games I bought NCAA for Madden and as much as I love Madden or NCAA I didn't turn to loving Madden just as much because it had my NCAA guys in it it was so good

1:23:07O'Shea:how did they not because they brought NCAA back and I don't understand why you wouldn't there's no way you can't do it now either way I digress Bro, last thing I'm going to ask you, last thing I'm going to ask you, because I know you're a big, you know, the Neo Geo, Sega Dreamcast, you know, all the, even brought up Sega Saturn. He's got a Jaguar. Do you got an emulator at all? You got a handheld emulator? Yeah, dude, you got to have that. No, no. So a lot of the guys that I buy, like, I'll go and find games because I'm a game collector, a console collector, and they'll get pissed off at me. They're like, are you going to play it?

1:23:43I'm going to go, of course not. bag that I have sealed off. I'm never going to play this game. It's going to be in my collection, but I will go on an emulator and I'll play it. I like to go on my emulators and just find the games that I have. Oh, that's cool. Let me try this one out.

1:24:00O'Shea:We could have a whole episode. AJ, I am such a fan right now. TJ, please. Look, man, if there's any more gaming stuff he wants to talk about, I say keep it rolling. Keep it moving. bro I'll tell you something let me tell you this the most underrated system ever made is the Sega Dreamcast it was the first 100 % get online and play and if you were playing well they didn't have that I think they had 2K at the time 2K and it was really a great game you could look on your controller and pick your plays so nobody could see your plays on the screen a lot of people don't know that you can just look on your controller like why they haven't brought something like that back is yeah and it's so freaking cool dude there were so many things about the dreamcast that was so good but because they put out the saturn and the 32x and the sega cd before that they ruined everybody's expectations for what the saturn was they just shot themselves in the foot um because everybody had because they put them out so close together and nobody needed them so yeah it's sad man it's sad when you see sega on like the switch you know yeah it's still sad for me bro yeah dude because say dude sega first of all i brought up sega once before on this show with a uh wwe superstar by the name of javon evans do we have that uh that javon evans clip all right let me just look at this my older brother daryl this is how he introduced me to wrestling period we uh are you ready for my old moment yes sir we played WWF Raw on Sega Genesis and he would always pick Shawn Michaels you don't want to be nobody else who is this dude?

1:25:47O'Shea:he always picked Shawn Michaels I got a question and this is really going to show my age y 'all probably already know

1:25:56O'Shea:what's Sega Genesis? I don't know what that is ladies and gentlemen give it up for Javon Evans hey hold on wait hold on wait sega genesis bro this is gonna get clipped

1:26:15bro i could tell by the look on his face he had no idea and that's what we gotta realize like i've been wrestling for 25 years there were people that

1:26:24O'Shea:weren't even alive when i started wrestling and being so yeah i just man yeah wait i mean So the gaming historian, I don't know if you've ever saw this guy or watched his stuff on YouTube. He's unbelievable. Yeah. Unbelievable. He's got so much good stuff. But, you know, the Genesis, man, at the time, now I'm a Nintendo guy. I am a Nintendo fanboy. But, you know, it took a little bit longer for the Super Nintendo to come out, and Genesis was killing it. With sports games, it was just crushing. and I was like, man, I might see if I can get one of those for Christmas. And then finally the Super Nintendo comes out, and I was like, oh, we're good.

1:27:09And Super Nintendo started coming back and made some really cool games. But, man, Genesis was killing it. All they had to do was Sega Saturn.

1:27:18O'Shea:Yeah, Sega Saturn. Hands are dragging them. And then freaking up to the Dreamcast, and they'll be fine. Yeah, that was me. PlayStation, obviously, PlayStation all day. but that xbox 360 bro that did some numbers in my house and then uh obviously you know shout out to playstation i'm back but yeah that 360 it had its moments bro but um yeah i just had to let you see that because it broke my heart you know he's such a good kid too talk about playstation i think everybody at one point was a playstation guy ps2 is crazy the reason why i switched to xbox because with the original xbox was the first to really get online and made that a big part of what they were selling within the xbox and that's why i switched to xbox at at that time because you could get online and play uh immediately it was free and so and that's how xbox won me over yeah and i loved xbox because like when you play wrestling games on the xbox tj i could do custom soundtrack so i can really like i can play my music and have my creative a wrestler come out to my music.

1:28:23O'Shea:I did not know that. Yeah, it was crazy times. But back to wrestling. Thank you for that time. Thank you, bro. Don't get me started on video games. We'll be here all night. I know, man. I love it. We're going to click that and it's going to do very well online. I can promise you that. 2002, you debuted in its third show A Night of Appreciation. Yeah, because it was unbelievable, right? I think Eddie Guerrero was there on the third show. So I wasn't there for the first one, but I was there for the third one. And Eddie was there. I'm like, holy cow. And I'm starstruck, right? It's Eddie Guerrero.

1:28:57So, yeah, I don't even – did I wrestle low-key that first time? I don't even know. But I wish I would have known that people watched – I think it was Wild Side back then because it came on at like 3 o 'clock. I wish I would have known because I didn't think they knew who AJ Styles was or what he did. I could have hit the Styles Clash back then. They would have known what it was because those were unbelievable fans up there in the Northeast. They were on top of everything.

1:29:25O'Shea:Dude, you've been to so many places. I need to know what that feeling was in, what was it, that backlash? In France when the camera was shaking recently. Dude, that was unreal. I'm the bad guy. I'm like, guys, I don't know what to do here. I don't want to smile because I'm trying to be the bad guy here. But Locke, like you guys are making this amazing noise for me and like showing so much appreciation. I was like, whew, that was a tough one. That was tough to be the bad guy. I could imagine going to sleep that night and hearing la-da-da-da-da-da. It was, and again, we moved forward on this because, you know, but watching that, because I did like three hours of research yesterday, AJ, just re-watching some old stuff.

1:30:11and you come out, you get announced, and the crowd's popping for you. They're popping. And then you actually get the announcement from Samantha inside of the ring. And that chant, and it's like you've got this look on your face. And I always like to ask performers this, right, man? You said you're the heels, so you can't really look like you're enjoying it too much, but your face betrayed you. Because you had a look of just shock and wonder and awe. And then Michael Cole gave that, he said that line, the camera's shaking. And it was like, what does a normal person like, O'Shea's in movies, right?

1:30:55So he's a movie star. But, you know, you get your feedback after the movie's already out. Like, I work on a daily sports show. So every day, you know, this is a little different. We don't get people cheering for us necessarily. only like trash talk is when i you know give a bad take but for a performer a wrestler a rapper a rock star to like a normal being like myself brother can you just explain internally what that feels like to have that many people chanting your name in a language that is foreign to you what was that like you know phenomenal i mean it's hard to put into words i mean how do you explain something like that other than like wow um i can't believe they they like aj styles this much i can't believe that you know i'm sure some song that they sing in soccer that applies to aj styles that they would sing that and and be so loud and jumping around they're shaking the camera it's pretty amazing and uh the last time we went to france we had a pretty good idea they may do the same thing yeah so when i was wrestling i wrestled dominic mysterio dominic mysterio was supposed to come out during break he did not because they wanted to see how long they could go with them chanting that song it went all the way through break until he came back live it's a pretty freaking cool moment that they would do that for aj styles and man i'll never forget that it was an unbelievable moment both times were just like i can't put it into words you know like wow wow i can't believe they they like this character that i'm playing you know I can't believe it.

1:32:36It was pretty cool. And you definitely, you seem much more at ease the second time with Dom. You were getting into it. I was going to enjoy it this time. But that first time, it's like you were just, like I said, you're standing there with your arms out, and you're just like, wait a second. And you're literally like this. This is what we saw on TV.

1:32:56Don't get me wrong. I've watched it back a couple of times. As you should, as you should. That is sick. TNA, the six-sided drink. Let's talk about it, man. What was it like when you first saw it? Or even more so, AJ, when you first got into it. How awkward was it? Well, that's what I thought. I thought it was going to be real awkward. But then I realized if I hit the ropes, I'm still going to go to the ropes in front of me. It's not going to change. The worst thing about it was that you could not get to the top turnbuckle because of the way that your feet were. Because it's not at a 90-degree angle in a six-sided ring.

1:33:33So it was very hard to get on the top rope and get your balance. So that's why I just started to springboard and everything.

1:33:40O'Shea:Makes sense. Oh, wow. Yeah, like if I was trying to set my feet. Yeah, because, you know, there's a lot of people that that's iconic. You know, that I've seen you in interviews talk about how different it was. I've seen you and Sting talk about your differences with the six-sided ring. But, yeah, that is such an iconic piece. but I never really thought about getting my feet on the top rope. And I can tell you this. I didn't realize how bad it hurt, but, man, it was brutal. You know, a squared ring usually has like a spring in the middle where a six-sided ring has pillars that you would move back and forth.

1:34:23And if they're too close together, oh, my God, it's going to kill you. But if they're too far apart, the ring is too bouncy. So you've got to find that happy medium. And there's been many a times I know I've landed on that pillar. Yeah. And you've just got to eat it, man. It is what it is. But I will say this. I don't know if we're going to this, but I'm just going to go.

1:34:44O'Shea:No, yeah, we can. When Hulk Hogan came in, I was like, no way they were going to get rid of the six-sided ring. That's who we are. That's how we're known. And sure enough, it was gone. And there was a time where Kurt and I were wrestling, and he gave me the belly-to-belly off the top rope. And I'm just like, I'm never taking that again. I'm done. It's killing me. And we got into the squared ring, and Kurt was like, hey, do you mind taking the belly-to-belly? Because I love Kurt so much. I was like, yes. So he gives me the belly-to-belly off the top rope in a squared ring, and it was like landing on a pillow compared to what it was in the six-sided ring.

1:35:20And I was like, oh. And right then and there, I was like, I'm kind of glad we switched to the squared ring. You know, that's going to be good for us, guys. Yeah, as someone who was a TNA fan back then and watched the product a lot, you know, people always like to say, you know, when WCW went away, they stopped watching. And I was like, you guys not know that TNA was there? Do you not know ROH? There was a lot of places as a wrestling fan that you could have gotten your fix. Like, do you understand what you were missing out on by not being a TNA fan, by not watching what was going on there? all those years it's it's amazing to me you know from you to joe the daniels the kazarian to i mean aj i've watched the beautiful people ring entrance on youtube for about an hour completely different reasons but you know what i'm saying but uh speaking speaking to kurt angle uh january 2010 you wrestled kurt for the tna world heavyweight championship and it was the most watched episode of impact of all time do you have memories of that match we've wrestled so many times i don't remember which one it was uh i can tell you this we never had a bad one believe that that's a flex that doesn't surprise me and kurt was so good and he was a machine i know you've heard this before he didn't get tired which is very intimidating but thank god i was young enough to hang with him, you know, had some lung capacity to be able to hang with Kurt Angle because he did not slow down.

1:36:55And he was so freaking intimidating in that time that I swear he would blow – he had to blow people up in WWE. He had to. He was just too good, man. So Kurt Angle, he's a different human being, man. Or mouthpiece Kurt Angle. Peak Angle.

1:37:16O'Shea:Yeah, peak. Think about Kurt Angle. He's from Pittsburgh, close to where I was. He didn't start wrestling until I think he was a junior or senior in high school. You would assume Kurt Angle would have been wrestling from third grade. That was not the case. And also a little known fact, Kurt Angle has, I think, four brothers. And the word on the streets, AJ, is he may have been the least tough of the four. I've heard that too. I've heard many stories about his older brother, and he's a bad man. Okay, AJ, bro, you've given us so many gems. We have our number one question that we ask everybody their first time on the No Contest Wrestling Podcast.

1:37:56So I got to ask you, you're in a bar, you're out,

1:38:02O'Shea:having a good time. There's 50 dudes in the bar. They don't like AJ Styles. They heard you didn't like NASCAR and it made him mad. It was down south somewhere, all right. So I need to pick a team of you and four other wrestlers to make sure the phenomenal one is getting to the car. Well, I can tell you this. I'm going to pick the most intimidating man I've ever seen in my life. And it's just based on his size. He's a sweetheart of a guy, but they don't know it. And I've never seen any fight or anything like that, but I'm pretty sure he could break somebody in half. And I'm going to get Omos. Omos, come help me, bro.

1:38:42I just called that. Just called it. He's a scary human being if you've never seen him before. He's just unbelievably huge. He's not skinny tall. He's scary tall. But I may have to call up on the Usos. I'll get both of them to jump in there because I know they'd be there. Joe, Samoa Joe.

1:39:02O'Shea:Yeah, Samoa Joe. I got Joe coming. And like I said, leaves me one more. Who would be that last guy?

1:39:13hmm are we going from any time or any area yeah oh my god give me rick root freaking i know when we follow rick root like that guy's coming and he's gonna clear the house yeah rick root for sure all right aj so before we let you go i want to let you know that we are inducting you into the no contest wrestling hall of fame congratulations uh now in the hall of fame we're gonna have your aj styles bus there and we're gonna have a monitor and it's gonna play on the loop three of your favorite matches? Three quintessential AJ style matches. Three matches where if people didn't know you, they're going to know you after watching those three.

1:39:47Do you have three that you'd like to live forever? Oh man, gotta give me the match at Unbreakable, right? With B-Joe and Christopher Daniels. Obviously, yeah. That's a good one. The match with Cena, I don't know which one I'd pick. SummerSlam or Royal Rumble or freaking the one we just had. You know, we'll go ahead and put all three in. We make the rules. And so now I've got one more that I've won in there for people to remember. And that's a tough one. That's a tough one. Because now I've got to think back to who I wrestled. Man, it's tough. But that match with me and Dean Ambrose, that TLC match where my gear gets ripped.

1:40:30I'm showing half my butt cheek. That was a really, really good one, man. It was really, really good. That 450 through the table, It was crazy, man. I was like, man, I can't believe that. That's one of my... Freak. And now another one just hit me. Can I tell you one that I'll put in on my own for you? All right, go ahead. You, Nakamura, Wrestle Kingdom 10. Freak, of course. I watched that this morning. I woke up at 6 in the morning just to rewatch that match because that was one of my all-time favorites. You know, the thing is that people go, were excited about me and Nakamura at WrestleMania. I'm like, you understand the fans are different.

1:41:12Like, they will make you enjoy a match, and you won't even know it. That's how good the fans are in Japan. But I was also, that's another match I would definitely throw in there. I had one with Suzuki. Yes. Just a regular match. Him and I were like, hey, did you get a lot of tweets or something about that match? He'd go, yeah, I guess people liked it. I don't know. We didn't think anything of it. We just were like, great match, man. Thank you. That's it. And apparently everybody loved it. But there's also the match with Abyss in the cage that I had in TNA. And I don't know if you guys had a chance to see that.

1:41:49It is unbelievable. Really, really cool match. This is one of my favorites. It was a lockdown, so every match was in a cage. And we had to think of a way to be different than everybody else because we were the main event. And so we spent the first 10 minutes outside of the cage fighting that finally led to the inside of the cage. And it was just, I think it was one of, just a great match with a big guy and a smaller guy. And just, that's one of my favorite matches too. But there's so many out there that I've forgotten about that I go, oh my God, that was amazing. So I'm sure after we're done talking, I'll go, oh man, I should have seen this one.

1:42:25O'Shea:You could come back anytime, man. We need you back, AJ, because there's so much more we'd like to talk to you about. This was sick, man. I hope you had a good time. I hope you enjoyed our interview. where we do we do all right yeah man you guys did great this is a fun one dude i would do this anytime hey we're gonna hold you to that yeah man i'm good hey as long as we get to talk about some video games too i'm i can listen hey this is your guy listen why don't you just have a a video game podcast as like a break off or something because we can talk about xavier woods could do the same yeah he's my go-to guy when i was like hey man dude the the phantom that has all my stuff on it.

1:43:04I got with Xavier Woods. I was like, hey man, he had like a case that opened up and had controls and stuff. And I said, where can I get one of those? And he sent me the Instagram of Phantom Arcades. And that guy, this guy ended up buying an arcade. I was like, hold on a second. I wasn't even supposed to be buying an arcade. You know? You know, so, but like, I could talk about video games all day, man. I love getting lost in it. I love playing these different games. And, you know, it's just, I don't know, it's part of our culture now, man. And I know I'm a little bit old to still be in this culture.

1:43:40I don't know if I'm going to be in my 60s playing. Absolutely. I'll flap my glasses on. Never put it down, bro. And Wendy will always know where you're at, right? That's right.

1:43:51O'Shea:Exactly right. AJ Styles, man. Thank you, bro. He really is. He really is. Phenomenal. Appreciate you guys. They don't want none. They don't want none. Don't do it. AJ Styles, for all of our listeners, I'm sorry you had to hear that. We just did the AJ Styles intro. Watch his YouTube video to see what we did. What a good dude, man. That was fun man and you know what it's nerd out with AJ Stone. And I knew it. I knew when I was prepping for the interview I was like there's going to be about a solid 10 minutes where I ain't going to have nothing to add to this conversation and it held to be true but it's fine with me because like I said I learned a little something every time you get someone and you guys get to geek out over video games and I think it's pretty cool man.

1:44:42He knows his stuff. Yeah. He knows his stuff for real for real life. I think you two are best friends now.

1:44:46O'Shea:Dude if I want to go to his because you You got to see. It's on Up, Up, Down, Down. When Xavier took a tour of his gaming little setup in his house, dude, it's so much history in there. And he's right. There's a bunch of stuff he's just not playing. He's got, like, Japanese versions of games. I heard it. And, like, it's just a nerd's dream. I have to drink a trip to Gainesville, Georgia. He even got an old-ass TV that his wife be trying to make him get rid of. I should have asked him about that if he got rid of it. but he uses it because it gives him the nostalgic feel. I've heard that. Yeah, yeah.

1:45:22O'Shea:Yeah, bro. Shout out to AJ Styles. Shout out to the wife. You know, we always like to, when we do these interviews whenever possible, you know, get a touch and a little sense of who they are as real human beings. You know, someone once said in a comment, like, wow, you guys really use the government names a lot. And I'm like, do we? And I thought about it. I was like, yeah, we kind of do. We did it with AJ. But, like, for me as a fan and me as an interviewer, like I'd like to kind of get to know the person as a human being. And what we've done is with a lot of guests, we get to know like their spouses a little bit and they get to tell us how, you know, the wives or the husbands have held them down and, and, and, and help them in their career.

1:46:01So that was cool to be able to talk to him, maybe give her a little shine because you know, the wives, which what you realize when you watch stuff like dark side of the ring and stuff. And I don't know if we've talked about this before, but you know, we as fans, we have our favorites and we love them and we watch them, but on the tail end, we forget that they have families at home, kids at home, wives at home, husbands at home, and they got to hold it down. They got to keep the household running. They got to keep the kids, you know, on track. And so I don't know. I think it's cool. And I think most people we ask about their family really enjoy the fact that we, we are asking and we're giving them a chance.

1:46:38O'Shea:Their face lights up every time. You know, I had a father who was on the road a lot. He showed up to everything he could, you know, everything, every little winter program that I had to sing in choir as a kid. He was my basketball coach for many a season. So I know what it's like to have a parent who has a life on the road. But who was holding it down that whole time? Oh, man, that's Mama Kim. That's what I'm saying. So I understand that family aspect because if you want my dad's face to light up, just talk about us. and so yeah that's a that's a nice little thing that i like that we do on our show and shout out to wendy for buying aj the burger king when he ain't no more burkin go long way burkin go long ladies you you you did the right thing though wendy you made a good pick and you stuck with him and i i'm hoping life life seems great so and also him being a gamer you know where to find him now tj will you tell these people where to find out where you can find us oh yeah well let's see When you go on social media, you know, you got that little Twitter slash X, but sometimes that's, you know, X.

1:47:47But anyway, there's no contest there. And then when you go to Instagram, you can find us at No Contest Wrestling Podcast. On TikTok, you can find us at No Contest Wrestling Pod. And, of course, you'll find all of our videos on the Rich Eisen Show YouTube page. Just write and type in No Contest Wrestling. ESPN app. Of course, we are the first and only wrestling podcast on the ESPN app. Just go there and you find us. And, you know, you find him at O'Shea Jackson Jr. on social. You find me at TJ Jefferson and 2Jiggy. You know, and yeah, man, wherever you watch or listen, we're there. So you ain't got no excuse.

1:48:27Come find us. Come find the phenomenal AJ Styles and then come back when I'm right about Obafemi. You feel me?

1:48:33O'Shea:Yeah, you filthy animals. on behalf of my co-host, best in the world, TJ Jefferson. I am... The heel that's your little head, O'Shea Jackson Jr. Make sure y 'all have a good day, but not too good, because who the hell do you think you are? Bye, Miss Parker.

1:49:00O'Shea:Legally, we can't say drinking storm makes you smarter and more focused. But with zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine, and immunity support, you're smarter and more focused for drinking Storm. Storm. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life.