Former TNA and current WWE superstar 'The Phenomenal' AJ Styles recently spoke with Sports illustrated where he talked about many things including the rivalry between Raw and Smackdown, Bullet Club and more. Below are some of the highlights from the interview:
Styles who was drafted to SmackDown during the recent Brand Extension Drafts and has become a prominent face of the Blue Brand just a few weeks after it, was asked about what is the key to success for SmackDown and Styles said that consistency is the key:
"We’ve got to be consistent. Every week, we need to be consistently better than Raw. That’s a hard thing to do. They’ve got three hours and an amazing roster, but we have an amazing roster, too. We’re going to get after it every week."
AJ who has been a part of NJPW's G1 Climax - Heroes of Supremacy event in the past talked about the recent victory of independent wrestling star Kenny Omega who became the first ever non-Japanese wrestler to win the prestigious tournament saying that he is jealous of Omega for doing so:
"I’m a little jealous of his G1 win. He earned the right to do that. He was the first ever geijin [foreigner] to win the G1, and he’s worked really hard and he deserves it. The man speaks fluent Japanese–I barely speak English."
When asked about the infamous Bullet Club stable and who has been the most effective leader of it since its establishment, The former TNA World Heavyweight Champion who was seen as the leader of it before he signed with WWE claimed that he never was the leader of it:
Everybody always gets really confused about that. I was never the leader of the Bullet Club. We don’t follow anybody. We do what we want, when we want, and how we want. We don’t need someone to tell us. Finn may have been a leader, maybe Kenny is the leader now, but I was never the leader.”
Along with this, the former NJPW star talked about Kenny Omega using both Styles Clash and the Bloody Sunday DDT, the signature maneuvers of AJ Styles and Finn Balor respectively before winning the G1 climax tournament and said that it was a little tribute to both former NJPW stars and he appreciates the move.
AJ Styles will face the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose on the first Brand Exclusive PPV of SmackDown Backlash on September 11th.
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