AJ Styles was recently a guest on Corey Graves' After The Bell podcast, and the two talked about when the Phenomenal One (who was a big star in TNA) made his WWE debut. Despite the company initially viewing him as as upper mid-card talent, Styles knew from the start he wanted to be a top star.
"Listen, I think they had a different kind of plan for me when I got to the WWE, but of course, I had other plans. I didn't want to be an upper [card guy]. I want to be one of the top guys, and and I wasn't going to change my style to get there as well. It's gotten me this far. Let's see how far it can take me, but I just kept doing what I've been doing. A lot of times, the question was, did you have to change your style? Not at all."
Styles definitely exceeded expectations in WWE shortly after his arrival, and has indeed become one of the company's top stars in the years that followed (winning the WWE Championship multiple times, for example).
As an industry veteran, though, Styles can pass his knowledge on to the next generation of wrestlers, and reflected on doing so with Ricochet and Cedric Alexander. "The guys like Ricochet and Cedric Alexander, like I've wrestled those guys on the indies. It's really kind of showing them my support, like guys I get it, and trust me, I've been there."
"It may not be in WWE that I've been where you're at right now because sometimes you don't know where you're going, what direction they have you go in. You have no idea what's going on, but it is a roller coaster ride, and you just have ride it and see where it takes you, but if you're positive and have a good work ethic, then it will benefit you in the long run. You just got to stay at it."
"So I just try to help those guys have a positive attitude because the attitude changes everything," he concluded. "Once your attitude turns sour, your performance turns sour as well."
Wise words indeed from the Phenomenal SmackDown Superstar!