WWE: Big Focus to Get Younger Talent on RAW & SD, Interest in Richard Holliday & Tama Tonga, AJ Styles

WWE Reportedly Has Big Internal Focus on Getting Younger Talent on Main Roster Shows

WWE reportedly currently is planning for their younger talent to be featured more on their main roster shows, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Dave Meltzer reported that his sources stated that WWE officials currently have a big internal focus towards getting younger aged talent to be featured more on their RAW and SmackDown shows going forward.

In regards to WWE’s upcoming Night of Champions 2023 event on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, only Rhea Ripley out of everyone scheduled to work at the event is under the age of 30. Five of the talent scheduled for the event are currently over the age of 40, who are AJ Styles, Brock Lesnar, Asuka, Natalya, and Trish Stratus.

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WWE Reportedly Interested in Signing Richard Holliday & Tama Tonga

As noted before, Richard Holliday’s contract with Major League Wrestling expired this past April and he is currently a free agent.

Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his sources stated that WWE officials recently held internal talks regarding their interest in signing Holliday to a potential contract with the company. Meltzer reported that WWE officials are the most interested over his real life story of him recently beating cancer.

Besides Holliday, Meltzer reported that WWE officials also recently held talks regarding the idea of signing Tama Tonga to a potential contract with the company. Tonga’s contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling is currently believed to have expired several months ago.

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AJ Styles Comments on WWE Not Having Plans for Him After WWE Debut in 2016

In a recent interview with the Mark Andrews: My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast, AJ Styles revealed that Vince McMahon had no plans for him in WWE following his surprise debut during the Men’s Royal Rumble match at WWE’s Royal Rumble 2016 event.

“I’m not sure how I snuck in there. I think maybe the success of the BULLET CLUB helped for sure with maybe some of the (WWE) writers if they asked him, ‘What do you think about A.J. Styles?’ I don’t how it worked out but I can tell you this, Vince McMahon had no idea who I was. There’s no way because he had no plans for me after the Royal Rumble. I wasn’t supposed to be at Raw the next day. Yeah, so he just thought it was a fluke that I got the pop that I did in Orlando and I didn’t need to be on TV but I was and I had a very basic match because I thought that Vince wanted to see a babyface be a babyface. He brung me back and he sat me down and I’m so grateful that he did, he says, ‘Listen, I got a thousand guys that can do what you do’ and I said, ‘Hmm.’ He goes, ‘I need a Pitbull’ and I go, ‘Oh, oh! I know that guy’ and that’s exactly the guy I was in New Japan and everywhere else. So it was easy for me to come out and be that guy that he wanted to see and that’s when I think I gained his trust. Like okay, this guy sees my vision and is gonna go out there and show it and so, yeah, that’s the way that worked.”

Styles also gave his thoughts about the future of his wrestling career.

“I would think that going out the way that you want to, not going out the way you have to, that’s all I want to do. I just wanna be able to finish and go out the way I want to and I know that’s a hard thing because injuries are the reason for a lot of retirements. For Edge, his first one, he thought he retired because he thought his career was over and that’s the way it is for a lot of us and what we do. So I’m just hoping to finish. I wanna finish and I wanna finish my way and not due to injury.”

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com