Interesting AJ interview

[Guest Drake]

Credit:PWInsider.com

 

The Q&A was advertised to be 30 minutes long, but it went nearly three times that length. The following was mentioned -

 

- A. J. said that he wants to watch Raw on Monday nights, and he tries to watch Raw, but when he turns on Raw, it is so bad that he can't watch it.

 

- A. J. said that he would love to see Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Rey Mysterio in TNA so he could work with them. Chris Jericho was another name he threw out, and when asked, he also said that Rob Van Dam and Kurt Angle would be high on his list. A. J. also said that if he were still alive, the late Eddie Guerrero would be just as high on that list, if not higher.

 

- When asked who was stiffer, Samoa Joe or Low-Ki, A. J. said that both men are so professional and good at what they do that neither are anywhere as near as difficult to work with as they appear to be. A. J. said that their chops to the chest, like all chops, are stiff and painful to take, but he added that those are part of the business, and said that if you can't take chops to the chest then you ought to be looking for another line of work.

 

- A. J. credited being where he is today to being lucky enough to be in the right places at the right times. A. J. mentioned how he started working for NWA Wildside, which had a business relationship with WCW. WCW brought him in with Air Paris as a team called Air Raid, which he wasn't fond of at all, however it was there that he first met Jeff Jarrett and Jeremy Borash. After WCW folded, he said he was offered a developmental deal by WWE for $500 a month, but he declined it and did some work for the WWA ppvs, where he got to know Jeff and Jeremy better. Just prior to TNA debuting, he wrestled and indy show in Tennessee that Jerry Jarrett was attending, and it impressed Jerry enough that he was asked to be a part of TNA.

 

- A. J. said that Samoa Joe went into their Ultimate X match with pinkeye in both eyes, and he gave it to both himself and Christopher Daniels! A. J. also feels that Ultimate X is overused, and wasn't sure about the concept of a PPV with all steel cage matches.

 

- A. J. said that Jeff Hardy was a very nice person, but one can only be given so many chances before the decision is made not to use them. He also said that in many instances, Jeff would not appear until almost right when the shows began. He mentioned Jeff missed a show due to his "ferret-creature" escaping and he had to catch it (A. J. jokingly wondered aloud if it had eaten Jeff's phone). He also said that when Jeff missed his last TNA show, he said that Jeff alerted TNA via cell-phone text message saying something along the lines of "slept in late, missed flight, card subject to change." He also said he worked on an indy show against Matt Hardy once, and unlike Jeff, Matt would actually add input into how the match should go. He enjoyed working with Matt.

 

- He mentioned working with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, saying it was difficult because at this point there wasn't a lot they could do. He said that taking the Razor's Edge from Scott was very uncomfortable, and he would have liked to (and would rather) have taken Nash's Jackknife.

 

- He said that Sting is absolutely awesome to work with. He also said that Christian Cage was great to have around, and Rhino was an excellent signing on TNA's part.

 

- He had a few things to say about LockDown. He said that the chain link fences used for the cage had a smooth side and a rough side, and the cages were unfortunately assembled inside out this time around, so the rough sides were facing inward. As a result, many of the guys were trying to avoid bumping into the cage. He also said that Scott Steiner "was helpful enough to physically assist him" into the cage (his arm was still very scratched up). He said that he was a little nervous doing his big spot with James Storm, as he said that the fence was starting to pop loose and they were afraid this would turn into a "Foley bump." He said that right before he did it, he told Storm to spread his limbs out so he could grab onto something if necessary. Fortunately, they landed where the bars crossed, so there were no worries about falling afterwards. He also said that because they had to sell the move, Storm had to lay on his back and face upward, and was thus unable to see how the match was progressing, so A. J. narrated it to him as they were laying there since he was facing down. He also said that prior to the match, Brother Ray pulled him off to the side and told him more than once to take his time going up the ladder to do that spot, which he appreciated.

 

- A. J. said that he found out about the upcoming Philly house show when fans who had read about it online alerted him to it. He was unsure about wrestling there due to the fact that Philadelphia has no shortage of wrestling choices. He said he felt TNA could do much better if they ran house shows where not much wrestling occurred and therefore the population "was starved for it." He cited Detroit as an example, and also mentioned Alabama as a good place. When a fan suggested Kansas City, he said that was also a good idea. A. J. was happy to brag that TNA's house show drew a much higher number than WWE's house shows tend to do nowadays.

 

- A. J. feels that had WCW survived, the concept of a cruiserweight tag team championship would have been huge, and feels that if TNA gets a bigger timeslot, the addition of an X-Division Tag Team Championship could be equally huge.

 

- A. J. says he likes Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, but felt that TNA was absolutely justified in their decision to pull their talent from the Long Island ROH show back in February, and are equally justified in their subsequent decisions regarding them since their tardiness (by more than 4 hours) nearly caused the pay per view to have to be rewritten.

 

- In regards to Trinity, A. J. said that he liked her a lot and said she is a great person, however he said that someone (A. J. intentionally didn't mention who) whom she is seeing said a lot of things that were untrue that she bought into. He felt that Trinity is smart for taking the opportunity to make more money with WWE, but at the same time he doesn't consider her departure to be a loss for TNA by any stretch.

 

- A. J. mentioned that he and Christian Cage have ribbed each other and Samoa Joe by taking their respective ring gears, wearing them completely and posing as them then taking a picture of all this with their camera phones, and sending the pix to the cel phone of the person who the clothes belong to. He also said that he and Christian are looking for someone else to do this to.

 

- He mentioned that Samoa Joe and David Young have developed a game where they will "hockey punch" each other in the chin at random moments. This let to a brilliant rib by Samoa Joe. Jacobs mentioned after one show that when Joe was asleep, he'd sneak into his hotel room and hockey punch him while he was asleep. Young made the mistake of telling other guys of his plan, which led to one of them calling Joe's room (and getting his roommate, Christopher Daniels) to warn him. Joe hastily placed pillows under his sheets to make it look like someone was in the bed, then hid in the bathroom. Daniels quietly opened the door for Young and invited him in, saying he wanted to stay on the other side of the room and record the video on his camera phone. Daniels positioned himself and recorded Young literally tip-toeing up to the bed, only to have Joe burst out of the bathroom and sock him good from behind! When a fan suggested that this be "Youtube'd, A. J. liked the idea and said, "When we can figure out how to do it!"

 

- A. J. wasn't sure why Christy Hemme is in TNA.

 

- In regards to the possibility of hiring people like Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger, A. J. said that at this point, it would be a mistake for TNA to try to live in the past when they should be working towards their future.

 

- He feels that Matt Sydal, Delirious, and Colt Cabana are ready to come to the TNA roster any time, if he were the one making the decisions.

 

- He says that Abyss and Sabu are the only two wrestlers who could have worked the Barb Wire Massacre match. He says that he loves working with Abyss and that one of his favorite matches was their match from LockDown last year. He also said that he would like to see Abyss and Delirious team up, with the idea being that Abyss was the only one who could understand completely what Delirious was saying!

 

- A. J. said that when TNA started to pull talent out of ROH due to the Rob Feinstein situation, Gabe Sapolsky informed TNA that Rob was no longer a part of the company. TNA asked Gabe to put that in writing, and informed Gabe that if he did, TNA wouldn't pull any talent at all. Gabe refused to put it in writing. He said that TNA later found out that Rob was still involved with the company, which explained why he wouldn’t sign anything for them.

 

- If he could change TNA, he'd give them 2 hours of TV for Impact, and he'd draw storylines out more. He cited the fact that himself and Christopher Daniels were the number one contenders for the NWA tag team titles despite just having formed as a team.

 

- He feels that Samoa Joe is "absolutely ready" to be placed in the main event picture and be used as a heavyweight.

 

- He says he loves video games and has “every system there is.” On nights that he's home, he'll put his kid to bed at 9 pm and play video games from 1 to 1:30 AM. He says that he and Samoa Joe will often play each other online.

 

- He thinks that WWE's video games are awful, all punch and kick and then specific moves are too complicated to do. He feels that WWE's best game was No Mercy for Nintendo 64.

 

- He mentioned working a show in Korea against Jeff Jarrett once, and during the match he asked Jeff if he felt like he could catch him. Jeff said yes, so A. J. threw him out of the ring, and went over the ropes after him, Jeff sidestepped him. A. J. said he was very angry at the time. He also jokingly referred to Jeff as “Triple J”

 

- A. J.’s advice to anyone looking to get into wrestling; “Have something to fall back on.” He mentioned that it is a good thing he is successful in wrestling because he doesn’t have anything to fall back on, as he’s not a college graduate.

 

- A. J. says that TNA wrestlers have been working very close with Midway Games developers on the upcoming TNA game. He mentioned that they want their game to be more than “punch and kick” since many of their wrestlers prefer using chops and forearms. On the subject of having something to fall back on, he said that he hopes to be a spokesperson for Midway games after his career winds down.

 

- A. J. loves to listen to Christian Rock.

 

- He loved the movie “The Notebook.” He also told a funny story on how either his father or father-in-law rented “Brokeback Mountain” because they heard it was a good movie, but had no idea what it was about… much to their shock when they played it!

 

- As far as he knows, everyone in TNA is happy to be there, and nobody walks on eggshells as opposed to other wrestling promotions.

 

-Taking the Canadian Destroyer is not scary at all when it is being delivered by Petey Williams. He said the one time he got hurt taking it, it was 100% his own fault. This was at Victory Road 2004 when A. J. called the move to Petey to come off the second rope and hit it bouncing off the mat. Petey asked him ahead of time if he was absolutely sure about it, because it would be difficult and almost impossible to protect him if done that way. A. J. gave his consent, and he says that he jammed his neck up good as a result.

 

- He said that Tito Ortiz was a great person to be around, and mentioned he didn’t realize how big he was until he came in!

 

- Now that international wrestlers are back for the World X Cup, he said he would love to work a match with Team Japan’s Minoru Tanaka. He was disappointed that Europe had no representation this time around, mentioning Nigel McGuinness by name.

 

- He said the first Ultimate X nearly never occurred due to the original poles used to hold cables for the X didn’t completely support the wrestlers and would bend inward. The metal struts used now were made the day of the event. He also noted that the height of the cables mysteriously rises and falls between each Ultimate X match.

 

- He says he never realized he would be doing his “inside out bump” at one of the Ultimate X matches right up until Chris Sabin kicked him. He said he was trying to tuck himself so he could land on his back, and he hopes to never repeat that move!

 

- He questioned WWE’s decision to give Ron Killings different ring names when he felt like the last name of “Killings” was perfect for a wrestler to have.

 

- The first Wednesday night PPV of TNA, it’s debut, also almost never occurred, as something under the ring broke during warm ups! He mentioned that up until almost show time, Ron and Don Harris worked under the ring to get it fixed, and at that point everyone was praying that they could do so!

 

All and all, it was a very entertaining and informative Q & A. A. J. was extremely humble and genuine, and seemed quite pleased that people were there to see him.

 

Some really cool and funny stuff in the interview, like the ribs they pull on each other.

[Ryan 188]

AJ Doesnt like WWE much does he.

 

 

 

AJ is more critical of WWE than anyone i know, well apart from 1 person, not naming Daves...i mean Names. :P

Edited May 1, 2006 by Ryan

[Guest Bluestiger99]

Seems like a pretty good interview. I don't know if it was a shoot, but it certainly seems like it. I have to agree with him on signing the old guys. Not a good idea. I give him credit for really shooting from the hip.

[Fidel Cashflow 130]

He mentioned that Samoa Joe and David Young have developed a game where they will "hockey punch" each other in the chin at random moments. This let to a brilliant rib by Samoa Joe. Jacobs mentioned after one show that when Joe was asleep, he'd sneak into his hotel room and hockey punch him while he was asleep. Young made the mistake of telling other guys of his plan, which led to one of them calling Joe's room (and getting his roommate, Christopher Daniels) to warn him. Joe hastily placed pillows under his sheets to make it look like someone was in the bed, then hid in the bathroom. Daniels quietly opened the door for Young and invited him in, saying he wanted to stay on the other side of the room and record the video on his camera phone. Daniels positioned himself and recorded Young literally tip-toeing up to the bed, only to have Joe burst out of the bathroom and sock him good from behind! When a fan suggested that this be "Youtube'd, A. J. liked the idea and said, "When we can figure out how to do it!"

 

And to think I thought Steve Corino was lying when he said Joe's idea of fun was punching people in the face

[Guest horsemansmiler]

who in their right mind woud want to sucker punch Joe??? even for a joke!!!

 

 

Great interview he was shooting on wwe but also some aspects on TNA and i agree the ultimate x is over used and they should not sign bagweel luger and the other steiner. AJ is very critical about his own company and that shows honesty

[Ryan 188]

A. J. said that he would love to see Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, and Rey Mysterio in TNA so he could work with them.

 

Someone should inform AJ that Malenko retired 5 years ago.

[Guest horsemansmiler]

Someone should inform AJ that Malenko retired 5 years ago.

 

So did DDP but TNA still hired him, and didnt Nash retire too? and luger is as good as retired.

 

 

Dont think the retirement is a problem for TNA

[Ryan 188]

So did DDP but TNA still hired him' date=' and didnt Nash retire too? and luger is as good as retired.[/quote']

 

And when was the last time any of those 3 had a match in TNA?

[Guest horsemansmiler]

luger was there last week

 

 

other two good point ;)

[Ryan 188]

Luger was There last week, but he wasnt in a match, because he's retired ;)

[Guest Slim Jim]

But if Jarret had picked the right door...

 

But anyway, many people have retired in wrestling and come back again. I'm sure I can think of one person who has had more retirement matches than the average wrestler has had regular matches.

[Guest Sav]

He feels that WWE's best game was No Mercy for Nintendo 64.

Damn straight.

[Guest Dan]

Someone should inform AJ that Malenko retired 5 years ago.

 

To be fair, he said that he would "love" to see Malenko in TNA, he didn't say it would happen did he. Not really any need to be so pedantic,

[DC 536]

Someone should inform AJ that Malenko retired 5 years ago.

And Terry Funk retired the first time in 1986.....and Hulk Hogan retired in 1992 and 1993.....Foley retired in 2000.

 

I guess that can pretty much sum up the fact that wrestlers never really retire.

[Guest Russ]

Considering Malenko Vs Benoit is apparently going to happen at ECW ONS2, I don't think it's all that terrible a comment to make.

 

Good to see AJ continues to reinforces his Lamb-esq gay hating stance with being disgusted at Brokeback Mountain. Brock and Warrior are nodding and smiling in approval.

[Guest Down In Albion]

- If he could change TNA' date=' he'd give them 2 hours of TV for Impact, [b']and he'd draw storylines out more. He cited the fact that himself and Christopher Daniels were the number one contenders for the NWA tag team titles despite just having formed as a team.[/b]

 

You see, i watch a fair bit of TNA on TWC here in the UK and i think, infact a lot of the storylines go on for too long rather than not long enough as what AJ Styles mentioned.

 

Team 3D and AMV seems to have been going on for ever as does the whole Samoa Joe/AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels storyline.

 

Not forgetting the whole Sting thing.

 

As for the interview, nice to see some honesty from a wrestler when talking about fellow workers and his own company.

 

Nice one for posting Drake. :xyx

[Guest Dan]

I'm probably in the minority here, but overall I think TNA have done a grand job with the Sting angle, and how he's been used. When I first learnt Sting was going to be part of TNA again I thought they would book Jarrett vs. Sting straight away, but TNA have been able to keep the two apart from a 1 on 1 encounter for some months now, and I think they'll save a 1 on 1 match between for the anniverary show, which in my opinion showed draw quite well.

 

I will admit that the Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Daniels feud seemed to go just that bit too long.

[Guest horsemansmiler]

I'm probably in the minority here, but overall I think TNA have done a grand job with the Sting angle, and how he's been used. When I first learnt Sting was going to be part of TNA again I thought they would book Jarrett vs. Sting straight away, but TNA have been able to keep the two apart from a 1 on 1 encounter for some months now, and I think they'll save a 1 on 1 match between for the anniverary show, which in my opinion showed draw quite well.

 

I will admit that the Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Daniels feud seemed to go just that bit too long.

 

agree with everything here Dan.

 

They brought sting in for the sole reason to get a long angle out of him. and supplying him opponents in his quest to probebly a one on one match with jarrett. For me the angle is great

 

As for Joe AJ and Danniels yeah it went on but nobody can complain bout the matches and now thats changed cos Joe is in main event picture and AJ and danniels are in tag team mode

[Guest Thirteen]

Considering Malenko Vs Benoit is apparently going to happen at ECW ONS2, I don't think it's all that terrible a comment to make.

 

Good to see AJ continues to reinforces his Lamb-esq gay hating stance with being disgusted at Brokeback Mountain. Brock and Warrior are nodding and smiling in approval.

:lol

To be fair he was making a comment about something that happened to a relative not his personal opinions.

 

I liked the fact that the interview just seemed like a guy being himself which is refreshing in this business.

 

As for him saying that Smackdown! Vs Raw or any of it's PS2 predecessors are complicated... Maybe he needs to go back to college and graduate.:P

Unless of course he's talking about Attitude or Raw. A lot of people found the controls difficult. I wasn't one of them.:)

[Guest Danny Styles]

i really hope they put the Joe/ Young/ Daniels prank up on you tube, that sounds funny as!

great read though

[lawrence619 13]

To be fair' date=' he said that he would "love" to see Malenko in TNA, he didn't say it would happen did he. Not really any need to be so pedantic,[/quote']

Well put. Mr perfect you really should start reading thing's through properly ,that way you wouldn't make so many mistakes!!!:)