AJ Styles Believes All New Talent Coming To WWE Should Go Through NXT First
AJ Styles debuted immediately on the main roster at last year's Royal Rumble, but in a shocking turn of events, the SmackDown Live Superstar has now weighed in on talent going to NXT first.
Aside from the wrestlers who have been around since before it was created, near enough every talent on the main roster right now performed in NXT before debuting on RAW or SmackDown Live. There are some exceptions (Braun Strowman and The Club, for example), and one of those - AJ Styles - has now weighed in on why he believes wrestlers coming into the company should go there first.
This seems like a pretty surprising revelation from someone who became the WWE World Champion and the face that runs the place in his first year in WWE, but Styles makes a very good argument for how wrestlers can benefit from spending some time down in Full Sail.
"I think that everyone needs to go through NXT. And I’m saying this not [having gone] through it, I know, guys! But if you knew how quickly I had to learn, once I got there, how important things are to the big man. Is it a little stressful? Absolutely. But there was something that I needed to learn very quickly, and I couldn’t be asked twice to learn it. It was one time, that’s it. Luckily I was able to learn very quickly. But it’s very stressful for someone who may have never been in that main event scene anywhere else. The indies are completely different than WWE. There is a night and day difference between the two products, and you need to learn how the system works so you can better — when you get to that main roster, you’re ready, and no mistakes are being made."
It's an interesting point and one that does make sense. There are those who say that it's wrong for the likes of Finn Balor, Bobby Roode, and Shinsuke Nakamura to be "wasting" years of their career in NXT, but the latter is a perfect example of someone who used that brand to become a huge star before debuting to a rapturous ovation.
How WWE will handle talent coming into the company moving forward likely depends on a variety of factors, but you can let us know your thoughts on Styles' comments in the usual place.