Among the Ring of Honor originals who have gone on to great success in other companies is AJ Styles, someone Daniels knows very well both inside and outside the ring. In our exclusive interview, he discussed how he couldn't be happier for him and how he has solidified himself as a star in WWE.
“I'm so happy for him. Honestly, I knew if he had the opportunity, he would thrive there and just judging from his response last year in the Royal Rumble and his year up until now, everything's been going so well for him and he deserves it. He works very hard.”
“The years that he was at TNA, and then stepping away from TNA and going to New Japan like he did and thriving there, it just proves he's probably the best in the world at this moment. I look forward to seeing what happens to him in this WrestleMania season. I hope they give him a nice, featured match, something where he can go out there and perform to the best of his abilities.”
Styles, along with Daniels, was with ROH almost since the very beginning. A slew of stars have had stays in the company at one point or another, with Daniels admitting that the matches he had with those elite individuals are among his fondest memories in ROH.
“Certainly that first night, that match with Bryan Danielson and Low Ki, that one hour first world championship match, that one hour Iron Man match I had with Doug Williams and Spanky and Low Ki, wrestling Great Muta for the very first time in a Ring of Honor ring, all the world championship matches I had and the opportunities I had to wrestle guys like Tyler Black and Claudio Castagnoli and Roderick Strong and Austin Aries and Samoa Joe and CM Punk. I feel these guys have made me better and pushed me to continue to grow and become better as a wrestler.”
