Before shocking the world by signing with WWE, AJ Styles was a mainstay in TNA. He made a name for himself in that company, but shortly after signing with WWE, the Phenomenal One put himself on the map with a whole new group of fans.
This weekend, the former WWE Champion will challenge Cody Rhodes for the title at Clash at the Castle in Glasgow, Scotland.
Talking about the match, Styles revealed what he hopes to achieve in WWE before finally hanging up his wrestling boots (something he's hinted at happening in the not-too-distant future).
"Have fun, like enjoy every moment of it. Being in front of incredible fans, like a lot of times, especially during COVID, you realize how much the fans meant to you," he explained. "And I know this sounds really cliche and stuff like that."
"And listen, I'm a bad guy. I'm not supposed to be saying this. But when you experience something that we experienced wrestling in front of no one, it sucked in. So we need the fans as much as they need us when it comes to entertainment."
Looking back on his time in TNA, Styles also addressed the possibility of returning to the company. While he has no plans to leave WWE, they and TNA do appear to have embarked on a working relationship together which means wrestlers showing up in the opposite promotion is a very real possibility.
"Well, I would say that, hopefully, something like that happens," Styles said. "It's good for not only for talent in WWE to go to TNA and TNA go to the WWE, but it's better for the younger talent to get into the ring with some people who have different styles."
"It's very important that we are well-rounded, and you can't do that all in NXT. So the fact that we're going to be able to do that somewhere else is great."
We'll see what happens, but WWE has gone to great lengths in recent months to establish Styles as a top heel in the company. Something big must be planned for him, even if it isn't necessarily making Rhodes say "I quit" this weekend.
You can watch the full interview below.
Here's the full match card for Clash at the Castle:
World Heavyweight Championship Match
Damian Priest (C) vs. Drew McIntyre
Undisputed WWE Championship "I Quit" Match
Cody Rhodes (C) vs. AJ Styles
WWE Women's Championship Match
Bayley (C) vs. Piper Niven
Intercontinental Championship Match
Sami Zayn (C) vs. Chad Gable
WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Match
Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill (C) vs. Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn vs. Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark