AJ Styles: I Never Thought There’d Be A Time Where I Didn’t Work For Vince McMahon

AJ Styles reflects on the retirement of Vince McMahon.

There was a time when it appeared that AJ Styles would never work for WWE. Of course, since 2016, it’s become difficult to picture present-day WWE without AJ.

AJ Styles credits a lot of his WWE success to his ability to be direct with Vince McMahon and the relationship he formed with Vince McMahon in the years he was with WWE. Of course, Vince McMahon has now retired from WWE and the creative process is being spearheaded by Triple H.

AJ Styles, who was one of the last WWE Superstars to be able to strike Vince McMahon on television, tells Inside The Ropes that he hasn’t had the chance yet to really sit down and speak with Triple H but he believes that the changes can be a great thing. However, he does say that he never thought the day would come when he wasn’t working for McMahon.

“Well, you know, it’s only been, what, two, three weeks? So I haven’t really had that opportunity to read really, you know, sit down with him and chat with [Triple H], because he’s, I mean — at this point, you’re just so busy in that position, and it’s hard to find the time. It’s different for sure because it’s not Vince. I had a great relationship with Vince. It’s not bad or anything. I’m very optimistic about how everything is going. It’s just different. I never thought there’d be a time where I wouldn’t work for Vince, and so I’m just getting used to it just like everyone else. Again, it’s not a bad thing. It’s probably a great thing. It’s just different,” said AJ.

Continuing on, AJ Styles says that following Vince McMahon’s retirement, all of his successors are well respected in their positions and while he’s excited about the changes, he is allowing Triple H the space to breathe and not trying to overwhelm him with simple questions at the moment.

“We had a chat and everything was understood, you know, who was in charge and whatnot. Everybody is well respected in that position. So it’s, I don’t think anybody’s worried,” said AJ. “In fact, I think, there’s a lot of people excited, and there’s been a lot of exciting things that have happened these past weeks. So I think it’s a great thing. Just, again, when you report to someone, and that one person that you had been getting your answers from, the one person that mattered, is not there anymore. It’s different, and you’re not sure how to approach some stuff, because you don’t want to overwhelm — I don’t want to overwhelm Triple H by asking him simple little questions that I can take care of myself. You know, I tried to with Vince, I didn’t try to overwhelm them with simple little things. But if I needed a definite answer, I knew who to go to. Now, it’s just finding time to be able to ask Triple H those same kinds of questions. Nothing major, hopefully, but just specifics of what needs to happen.”

Similarly, Rey Mysterio, when discussing Vince McMahon’s retirement, mentioned the adjustment to life without Vince McMahon in WWE being one that he never thought he would have to go through. You can read Rey Mysterio’s comment at this link.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source as well as Fightful by linking back to this transcription.