Doc Gallows Relfects On AJ Styles Retirement Ceremony, ‘One Of The Best Retirement Tributes Ever’

Doc Gallows discusses his time at WWE Raw and paying tribute to AJ Styles.

WWE paid tribute to AJ Styles on Monday’s Raw in his hometown of Atlanta, GA, honoring him in the final segment and announcing he would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The night featured friends from AJ’s past, including Frankie Kazarian, Abyss, and The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson).

Speaking to Jeremy Lambert and Joel Pearl on In The Weeds, Gallows reflected on attending the event.

“We got the call like the Saturday before, I believe. A week before. We call each other and go, ‘I don’t know,’ knowing we wanted to be there for AJ. I came up with a list of demands, which weren’t really bad [laughs]. All these things that I wanted and the treatment that I wanted. We played a game for five or six days, and the Saturday night before, we said, ‘Yeah, absolutely, we’ll be there.’ We’re not taking anybody’s finisher unless we get back over. We’re not getting beaten up. None of that. It’s a little trepidatious; we’ve been out all over the world. When the 90 days were up, we wrestled the next day, and I think we’ve wrestled more than anybody since, which we’re very proud of and we love. That was not on the bingo card, to step back in that environment, literally a year after we get the call. Obviously, we weren’t in love with that last run, if you can call it that.

“It was awkward, but we got there, and we’re sitting in my truck in the parking garage, and we’re like, ‘Do we want to go in yet? We don’t work there and call time doesn’t matter.’ We’re texting with our one buddy in talent relations, and he’s in a meeting, and someone else is in a meeting. We sat there for about an hour and were like, ‘Alright, let’s go in.’ We walk in and I’ve been in that arena a million times and have been going to WWE there for over 20 years. We peeked our heads around the corner and the first people that saw us were the New Day. They go, ‘Ahhhh!’ They immediately blew our cover, but that was two of the best guys to see, Kofi Kingston and Woodsy [Xavier Woods], two great faces to see. We walked into the hair-cut area, and all the boys came up, and everybody was hugging and backslapping and happy to see us. It ended up being a nice feeling. We didn’t want to go into male talent because I’ve seen those guys who don’t work there over the years come in and hang their face out. We weren’t looking for a job, either. We went into a commentator room where nobody was and posted up there all day until we realized….no wonder I couldn’t get the private room that I asked for, he had a room as big as most people’s homes for him and his family. There was a playroom for the children, fully catered. Once I figured out all the good stuff and good snacks were in there, I moved my posting and hung out there. The vibe was good. You guys saw it, the tribute so well done. One of the best retirement tributes that any of us have ever seen. You have to give them their kudos. When it comes to video packages, they are very hard to beat.”

Styles appeared on Talk N Shop with Gallows and Anderson on Wednesday, giving an update on his future wtih WWE. You can find his full comments here.

Gallows & Anderson will be part of MLW in Atlanta on March 14. Fans can learn more about the event here. 

Watch the full interview with Gallows in the video below.