Jay Lethal Says AJ Styles Paid The Down Payment For His House

Ishaan SharmaJanuary 16, 2026, 8:13 pm

Jay Lethal says AJ Styles paid a down payment for his house.

Both wrestlers have known each other for decades now and have worked together in TNA and the Ring of Honor.

Speaking on What Happened When with Tony Schiavone, Jay Lethal was asked to share a personal story about Styles. Lethal said that The Phenomenal One helped him out with a down payment for his house, back when they were both working for TNA.

“AJ Styles always looked out for me. He’s one of the best human beings in the world. He said to me, ‘Hey, where do you live in now?’ I said, ‘Oh, I’m in this apartment in Tampa.’ He goes, ‘Oh, you’re in an apartment or how long you plan on being there?’ I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know, till I have money to buy a house or something. So that was just like a little one-off conversation.

Then about five to six months later, he asked me again, ‘So, where you living? You’re still in that apartment?’ Then he started getting a little upset. ‘You’re still in that apartment?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘Don’t you understand that whatever you’re paying rent-wise for that apartment, you’ll have to pay that forever. You’ll never own it. You’ll always be giving money to somebody else. If you had a house, I bet you could be paying less than you’re paying in rent. If you don’t like that wall, you could just knock that wall down and do whatever you want. You gotta get out of that apartment.’

I said, ‘Okay.’ In the back of my head, I’m thinking, that’s easy for you to say. You’re Impact Wrestling World Champion. I’m barely getting on the show. He goes, ‘Next time I talk to you, you better start looking for homes,’” Lethal recalls.

He still hadn’t started looking for a house, because he didn’t have enough money. But Styles even helped him out with the down payment.

“Next time, I talk to him, I really hadn’t started because I’m like, ‘I don’t make enough. This is fine.’ So when he found that out, him and his wife started looking on the internet, looking for places for me. They’re like, ‘You need to go check this, go check that.’Then he got my friend Jolene who lived in Tampa to help me look for places. Meanwhile I’m like, ‘This is all going to go nowhere. I didn’t have the greatest credit at the time. I barely had any money.’

So when we found this small little old place, I was like, ‘Oh, I guess this place would be okay.’ He actually helped me with the down payment. He goes, ‘Don’t tell anybody. Don’t ever mention this again. You know what? I don’t even want this money back. If you try to pay me back, I ain’t gonna take it.’ He didn’t have to do that. He helped me get this place that I have and I still have it to this day.”