AJ Styles Clarifies His Comments About Wins And Losses Not Meaning Anything in Wrestling 

AJ Styles elaborates on his comments about wins/losses.

Last week, AJ Styles shared his thoughts on winning and losing in wrestling. He said wrestling isn’t like UFC, and that wins and losses don’t mean much. His comments sparked a debate among wrestling fans.

On the latest edition of The Phenomenally Retro Podcast, Styles provided clarification on his previous statement.

“So wins and losses don’t mean a thing to AJ Styles, right? Like, I am going to get paid the same, as I said before, whether I win or I lose. Fans, I think, of pro wrestling were going, ‘Hey, listen though. Some of the guys that I love never get to win anymore, and I’m losing faith in that. So wins and losses do matter because if they don’t win, I’m not going to care about them anymore.’ I think what I was responding to is the one person that said, ‘I’ve seen people’s careers derailed because of that loss.’ If that’s true, they never intended on using them. That’s just the fact of the matter. It wasn’t a derail because they lost. It was because they had no intention of using them. So, boom, that’s kind of where they went. I think depending where you are in your career, your job is to help others get over rather than to win every freaking match.”

He then gave an example using his rivalry with Dominik Mysterio last year for the Intercontinental Championship. The Phenomenal One explained why he didn’t need to win here.

“You go, ‘Yeah, but what about?’ I’m sure there’s some others. Brock Lesnar, well, what can I say? I mean, Brock Lesnar does win most of the time, you know, but he’s also not there all the time. So it’s different. I get what they’re saying, but I wasn’t saying in the regards of… I don’t care as a contracted guy. If the story is where it needs to be, then that’s exactly what it needs to be. I would love to have beaten Dominik Mysterio in France in front of that crowd that, for some reason, loves AJ Styles. Now, AJ Styles wins. Okay, now I’m the Intercontinental Champion. Then I lose to John Cena, who is now the Intercontinental Champion. Then we’ve got to drop it back to Dominik Mysterio to be the Intercontinental Champion. It’s switch after switch after switch after switch. I don’t think we need it. I know there is, ‘Well, we switch from John back to Dom. That’s switch and switch.’ But it stayed within that story of Dominik and Cena. If I do remember correctly, that’s what happened. But Gunther needed nothing to do with the Intercontinental Championship. He didn’t need it. I think that made John a Triple Crown champion or whatever, right? I think that was a special thing for John and WWE. That was a cool thing. … That was the reason why that happened the way that it did. Like I said, the story didn’t need to be that way based on where we were going. I get it. It’s cool. I wasn’t going to be there for much longer. There was no reason to keep the title. That would have made me a Triple Crown Champion. It’d be cool to say that. I believe there’s only one person who can say that, and that’s The Miz. So, listen, it would have been cool, but it just didn’t work out. At the end of the day, I’m still AJ Styles. I still did all these great things in WWE, so it doesn’t bother me. Maybe it bothers fans because they want their favorite wrestler. I want to see Finn do well, too. I want to see him get his big title run because I don’t know how much longer he’s going to be there. I would love to see that. But it is mature enough in who he is to go, ‘Well, the story works. That’s great. If it doesn’t, that’s great too. I’m still going to do a good job when I step into that ring.’ Like I’m going to, it’s going to be such a great match that you’re not going to care who won or lost because at the end, it’ll be the fans that won. Not me, whoever I’m wrestling, but the fans will win because it was a great match. When I wrestled Finn Balor, I don’t remember what pay-per-view it was, but it was a big match that was supposed to happen because Bray Wyatt had gotten sick, and I had to go to America to get to that match. We were able to put on a great one. It didn’t matter to me that I lost because I had to sweep my friend at the end, which is pretty freaking cool.”

Click here to read his initial comment.

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