Styles then chats Tama Tonga’s potential arrival to WWE.
Coming up at WWE WrestleMania XL, A.J. Styles is going to be in singles action against L.A. Knight. Their program ramped up when Styles got involved in the men’s Elimination Chamber and went after Knight which led to him being eliminated.
Going into WrestleMania, Styles sat down with the Battleground Podcast and they asked him about Tama Tonga potentially joining WWE. According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline, Tama is headed to WWE. Styles thinks it’d be awesome if he joined the company and said he wanted him there a long time ago.
Well, I think that sky’s the limit (for Tama Tonga in WWE). This guy can get after it. I know how good Tama is so the fact that he may be coming over would be awesome. I was hoping he’d come over a long time ago but, he didn’t have any interest back then so if there’s interest now, he’s making the right decision.
Styles went on to state that he wishes talents who were maybe hesitant about joining WWE knew that it is not the same company Vince McMahon ran. He commented on the deal with Netflix to carry Monday Night Raw and said WWE is not going anywhere.
He then touched on past WWE releases and said he never understood doing that as opposed to sending talents to NXT to get a restart. Styles said things are no longer that way with Paul ‘Triple’ Levesque in charge and he tries to make everyone feel important.
I wish more guys who I think would do well in WWE who may have been afraid as far as past things have happened with Vince (McMahon) being there, I wish that they would understand that WWE is in this for the long run. We’re talking about 10 years on Netflix, possibly 20 years, you know? That’s a long time. We’re not going anywhere and the fact that you could come here and you can have a job as long as you can produce for as long as you want it and depending where you’re from, you could reach out to other countries. So I just wish more guys would understand this. We are not just in the United States of America, we’re not just in England. We are global. We’re even bigger now than we’ve ever been. Places that we weren’t able to go, now we’re in. So, I just wish they could see that and know that, listen, this isn’t the same WWE that Vince was in charge of. I really believe Triple H looks at our talent and go, let’s get ’em better or let’s find ways to bring out the best in them rather than show off the worst because a lot of those guys and girls, when they got released from WWE, it crushes ‘em. I never understood why we’d wanna do something like that, rather than, okay, let’s just send ‘em back in NXT. They just need a little bit more work or something like that. But, being released, it’ll crush you and I don’t wanna see people, you know, their lives being ruined because of a job. At the end of the day, it’s just a job. But still, it’s something they’ve worked for their whole life and then when you’re told you’re not good enough, man, that sucks. But it’s not the way it is these days. Not with Triple in charge. I think he’s doing a great job of making everyone feel important.
Circling back to L.A. Knight, Styles spoke about his rise in WWE:
You gotta respect what he’s (L.A. Knight) been through to get to where he’s at. I’ve been there, done that. I know exactly how it feels for someone not to believe (in) you and all you need is a chance and he got his chance and now, people don’t stop saying, ‘Yeah’. He could throw a punch or a kick. We’re gonna hear, ‘Yeah’. So, kudos to him for hanging in there and getting the job done when I know there’s frustration. So, listen, alright, that’s it, that’s it. I’m not saying anymore good things about him. That’s it.
Styles versus Knight is one of 10 matches currently announced for WrestleMania 40. A preview and predictions of the card was discussed on the latest N.W.A. Podcast here on POST Wrestling.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit the Battleground Podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.
