Former WWE star recalls getting a tryout after AJ Styles spotted him at a basketball game

Jack Talos was under contract with WWE for a year, and he revealed in a recent interview that AJ Styles was the one who got him a tryout. He never had an official match in WWE, but he was given the ring name Zechariah Smith.

The 7-foot-tall athlete was part of the famous Harlem Globetrotters basketball squad before making the jump to professional wrestling. Alex Bright, the Floor Manager for the Globetrotters, used to work for WWE. He provided The Phenomenal One with tickets to see a game. Styles took notice of Talos and asked him whether he'd be interested in becoming a wrestler.

Jack Talos told Bryan Asbury of Developmentally Speaking that after he spoke to AJ Styles, WWE contacted him several months later for a tryout.

"We were there doing a show. AJ Styles decided to bring his kids to a show... The show is a lot of basketball, a lot of sports entertainment, but it’s also a lot of me on the mic talking… And AJ saw me do the performance and he came up, thanks Alex for the show and you know, he’s like, ‘Hey man, thanks for everything and by the way, about that big guy, what’s he doing? Does he like wrestling? Is that something he’s into?’ And Alex kind of explained to him what I was in the process of doing because me and Alex have talked about it obviously. If you worked at the WWE, I wanna talk to you. He said, ‘Okay. Well hey man, I really wanna meet him. I might even get him a tryout,'" said Styles.

Jack Talos added:

"I go out there and there’s AJ with his two boys and we sat and we talked and he just kind of asked 'Is this something I’d be interested in.' I said, ‘Absolutely.’ About three months later, maybe two months later, Canyon Ceman, who used to work over there, gives me a call and I come in, I do one private tryout where it’s just me and a group of guys that are already there." [H/T - Postwrestling]

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AJ Styles on whether he'd be interested in wrestling The Rock

The Final Boss made his WWE in-ring return this year at WrestleMania Saturday, where he and Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. He was initially a babyface, but he turned heel after receiving a lot of backlash from the fans.

During an interview with Sports Illustrated, AJ Styles was asked whether he would be interested in sharing the ring with The Rock. He stated that he would be interested in the match, but only if The Great One were to turn babyface. The Phenomenal One added that he's not interested in being a mediocre bad guy, and he would want to bring this to a whole new level.