"This is what you had, but you didn't know it" - 7-time WWE champion opens up on being overlooked as 'the top guy'

Former WWE Champion AJ Styles opened up about his career before WWE and how fans regarded him as the 'top guy,' but TNA did not.

The Phenomenal One is set to face Seth Rollins this weekend in the Night of Champions. They are going to face each other in a tournament final to crown the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

On Mark Andrews' podcast, 'My Love Letter to Wrestling,' Styles talked about how he was overlooked by IMPACT and was not regarded as the main man by the company.

"Well, I think the guy for IMPACT is what most people saw me (as), but I wasn't the guy to them. I was just AJ Styles who had been here, but their guy was more of a guy who had been from WWE. I think that's who they looked (at) to do pretty much everything and I don't think I was ever that guy for them, at least in their eyes. I think the fans said, 'That's our guy!' But as far as the Dixie Carters of the world, they were like, 'It's more Kurt [Angle], or Sting. It's not AJ.'" [From 15:58 to 16:32]

Styles added:

"Now there's no going back to TNA. I'm the WWE guy now and this is what you had but you didn't know it." [From 16:54 to 17:00]

AJ Styles made his TNA debut in 2002, in the following week, he defeated Low Ki, Jerry Lynn, and Psicosis in a double elimination match to become the inaugural TNA X Division Champion. Since then, The Phenomenal One had been regarded as "the cornerstone of the company."

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WWE Superstar 'AJ Styles' talked about his love for wrestling

In the same podcast, Styles talked about his love for wrestling and how he loved that whenever he stepped into a ring, he was not Allen Jones anymore, he was AJ Styles.

"I think I love wrestling cause the moment when I'm in the ring, I can lose myself in the match and if I become part of that story, it's not Allen Jones being AJ Styles, I am AJ styles in that ring and I become part of that story." [From 18:52 to 19:05]

The former WWE Champion added that once he stepped out of the ring, he went back to being Allen Jones. He said wrestlers care about each other backstage, but once they step into the ring, they slaughter each other, and it's a really cool business that he had the opportunity to be a part of.

Who do you think AJ Styles will become the new World Heavyweight Champion? Let us know in the comments section below.

Please credit My Love Letter to Wrestling and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use any quotes from the article.