AJ Styles on Locker Room Gaming, WWE Debut, and Pride in His Matches

The Orlando Sentinel held a recent interview with AJ Styles discussing playing video games with others in the WWE, thoughts on his WWE debut, and being prideful of his matches.

On the topic of gaming with others in WWE’s locker room, Styles stated he enjoys spending his free time playing video games with others backstage. It became a good way for him to make friends in the WWE and pass off the time before working on shows.

“These are a group of guys and girls I really enjoy going to work with. You walk in and you’ve got [the New Day’s] Xavier Woods and his video games – that’s right up my alley. So a bunch of us start playing UFC or Madden, and that’s fun. Because you know, idle hands are the devil’s workshop. … I mean no disrespect to the guys who did it a different way at the bars or whatever. The truth now is, when we get to a city, we find a good gym, something good to eat, go to the building and play video games until it’s time for our matches. That sounds like a great day to me.”

On the topic of his WWE debut at Royal Rumble 2016, Styles stated it was one of his favorite moments of his career and when he quickly realized people still cared a lot about him as a wrestler.

“Everything pales in comparison to the Royal Rumble. … The response I got that night from the fans, after a couple of years out of the U.S. mainstream, is something I’ll never forget. I was really worried about how much the people would actually remember me, but that response made it something really special.”

On the topic of taking pride in the work done for his matches, Styles stated his main goal is to convey a sense of realism with his matches and becomes very prideful when he can blur the line with crowds.

“I take a lot of pride in what I do. No matter who I’m in the ring with, I want it to look like what it’s supposed to be. We call it sports entertainment, but it’s supposed to be a contact sport. I want to make that in-ring contact as real as possible, and [also make it real] outside the ring.

The magic is making the fans question whether these two guys really like each other or hate each other. That performance is what the business is all about … it’s the storylines that people remember.”