A.J. Styles in weekly WWE interview, plus talks WM32 goal in newspaper interview

Update: A.J. Styles offered similar quotes to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution discussing his WWE debut in an interview promoting next week’s Smackdown TV taping back home in Georgia.

Styles on his top goals in WWE: “Everyone wants that WrestleMania moment. That’s another big one for me. I’m hoping I can be a part of that. I’ve already done some amazing things in WWE, wrestling on ‘Raw’ and ‘SmackDown.’ I got the opportunity to do my first WWE pay-per-view with Royal Rumble, but to appear at WrestleMania would be unbelievable.”

***

A.J. Styles joined Michael Cole for the first time in WWE’s weekly sit-down interview on Wednesday.

The interview mixed storyline discussion and Styles’s thoughts on the “honeymoon period” in WWE.

Notably, Styles said he wants his “WrestleMania Moment” at WM32 in Texas. The interview stopped short of getting to a match/opponent, which will be set up on TV in the weeks to come.

Discussing WWE’s reputation before he joined the company, Styles acknowledged what other wrestlers told him beforehand about “walking on eggshells” backstage. He said he has not experienced that thus far and feels like if he does his job, he does not have anything to worry about.

Styles described the locker room environment as very professional. He said he’s almost been too casual with the other wrestlers, feeling like he knows them all even though he’s never been around most of them.

As for Styles’s journey before WWE, Styles described it as taking “the long route” from the very end of WCW to joining WWE 15 years later. Cole and Styles discussed the promotions in-between as “wrestling all over the world” to avoid naming a singular promotion.

Asked what the difference is between those other promotions and WWE, Styles quickly quipped “the catering” before discussing the professionalism of the locker room.

Styles also discussed the huge pop when he made his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble. He said he was concerned that the audience would not recognize him because the “WWE Universe” is in its own bubble, not aware of what else is out there in pro wrestling.

Styles then discussed his first match victory over Chris Jericho and their similar journeys to WWE 16 years apart.

EXCLUSIVE: The #Phenomenal @AJStylesOrg sits down with @MichaelCole this week to discuss his long road to @WWE! https://t.co/38PUBAZNIn

— WWE (@WWE) February 24, 2016