AJ Styles Blasts Ric Flair Storyline, Talks TNA Loyalty

A.J. Styles recently spoke about Hulk Hogan’s idea for his gimmick when Hogan first arrived in TNA, his loyalty to the company and more. Check out the highlights:

On Hogan’s idea to make Styles a ‘Ric Flair​ Jr.’ character: “If you want to see my take my hair and dye it all blonde, slick it back, and hang out with girls all the time, and you know, do that whole thing, and just totally just not be A.J. at all, then you would’ve went with Hogan’s idea.”

On his reaction to the gimmick idea: “I was like, I’m not that guy, and I am A.J. Styles. I’m not Ric Flair. I am who I am. I mean, just because he (Hogan) hasn’t been watching, doesn’t mean that a lot of people haven’t. They know who A.J. Styles. I got to be honest man; I don’t think that I need to ride Ric Flair’s coat-tails to be the next great thing in wrestling.”

On the lack of wrestling time given on Impact: “I think that our guys are more than capable of telling great stories in that right; more than capable if given the opportunity, and the time in the ring. That’s what some guys think, that championship titles are props; that the ring is just a prop. I know that I enjoy personally the wrestling part, I really do. I love the physical atmosphere of what’s going on in a wrestling ring.”

On not getting many media appearances: “I don’t know why that is. I busted my butt for how many years now, but I’m not going to be a guy that’s gonna complain about every little thing. Yeah, sure, you know, there’s some stuff that I could say and mention, but that’s not who I am. That’s not what I do. I support my company, and whatever they think is best is…well, what we’ll do. I’m behind em’.”

On wanting Impact’s breand recognition to grow: “I want us to have household names. I want us to be a household company that people say, ‘Oh, yeah, Impact Wrestling! I know exactly what that is.’ You know, not when we go through security at the airport or immigration or whatnot where you hear, ‘Oh, oh like WWE?’ I don’t want to hear that. I want them to know exactly who we are. We got (a lot of) tourists that come to The Impact Zone where they really haven’t followed the story; they really don’t know what’s going on. They just know that there’s wrestling, but when you get out of that Impact Zone, you really get to see these fans who’ve watched weekly, they will tell you what they wanna see.”

100% DIRECT LINK (*PICS*): Miss Tessmacher Hooters Bikini Pix! (*MUST-SEE-NOW*)