A.J. Styles on Between the Ropes Recap
by Richard Trionfo

This week on Between the Ropes, three-time NWA World Heavyweight champion, ‘The Phenomenal’ A.J. Styles joined Fritz, Dickerman, and Vito DeNucci to talk about winning the NWA World Title for a third time, the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary on June 19th, the future of TNA and other issues. This version of the interview summary is being provided exclusively to PWInsider.com. If you find this summary in this form on any other site, it has been copied and pasted without the permission of the author or anyone associated with PWInsider.com.

A.J. talked about his match against Jeff Jarrett at Hard Justice. The match was not something that was just thrown, and TNA allowed the match to have a build with video packages associated with the match. The fact that TNA made the match important pumped him up. He talked about the crowd reaction, and regardless of whether Tito got involved, he is now the champion. Everyone knows about the prestige of the NWA World title.

Tito Ortiz is a great guy and he helped make the match. A.J. was surprised at how well Tito did in the match. A.J. was asked if he thinks the victory was tainted by Tito Ortiz’s interference. However, he got the three count, and A.J. did the Spiral Tap for the first time in two years in the match. He mentioned that he wrestled a sixty minute draw with Christopher Daniels the Friday night before Hard Justice, as well as having a match on the night before the pay per view.

A.J. said that he had been doing some of the acrobatic moves that he is doing in Orlando while TNA was in Nashville. Now he is finally getting the chance to do it in Orlando. He wants people to see his matches and get the fans to be entertained at the moves he will pull out.

A.J. was asked if there is something with TNA that allows him to do things there that you might not see in other companies. A.J. says that you are not limited in TNA with what you can do in the ring. That is the type of wrestling that made ECW special. You see good matches and crazy things and that excites the crowd. When you get the crowd, everything else falls into position.

A.J. said that he is not sure about the current television situation. There are a lot of positive things with the television deal. He hopes that there is primetime television to allow the network that carries them to get good ratings and have people start to enjoy wrestling again. A.J. was asked if he was concerned about not having television for the next few weeks. If TNA is off television for a few weeks, but are able to get a prime time slot, it will be OK. It is because the current time slot is not the greatest. However, if they don’t have a time slot after the next few weeks, it could be a problem. If there is a prime time deal, TNA will be a difference for people who watch the WWE because ‘we are going to wrestle.’ On TNA, you will not have people talking all the time. You will see moves on TNA programming that you will not see anywhere. Once you see the product, you will be hooked.

A.J. was asked about who he wants to wrestle next, and he said that he would like to wrestle any of the people in the King of the Mountain match, whether it is Abyss or Monty Brown. He feels that Abyss is the best big man in the business right now. He has never had a program with Monty Brown, but he would look forward to working with him. Other people that he would like to wrestle are Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, and Michael Shane. Even though they might be considered X Division wrestlers

A.J. was asked about people who he would want to see in TNA that are not with the company right now. He mentioned that there are a lot of rumors on the internet about people coming to TNA, and he A.J. says that he thinks Matt Hardy would be good for their style of wrestling because ‘he can go’. Samoa Joe and CM Punk are also two people he would like to see in TNA as well as Matt Sydal.

A.J. was asked about NWA Wildside and what it is like to see that promotion gone since that was where he started. It is sad to see it go, but it might be starting under a new name. He feels bad that he was not at the last show because that was where he started.

A.J. was asked about his new contract and what it is like to know where he is going to be for the next three years. It shows that TNA trusts him to be there for the next three years to make them money and entertain the fans. It is good to feel wanted and he will do what it takes to help get the television deals to entertain the fans. He enjoys working for TNA and looks forward to the next three years.

A.J. talked about his son. He said that it is one of the hardest things that he has ever done because he is driving him crazy. There is always something going on with his son and he is only three weeks old. A.J. said that he is not getting much sleep, and it is tougher than any opponent he has faced in the ring.