AJ Styles Explains Why He Thinks NIL Women Progress Faster Than Men In WWE
WWE has leaned into the NIL system over the years, recruiting men and women from college sports and turning them into WWE superstars.
In NXT, many have noticed that the women NIL athletes have progressed faster than the men with the likes of Sol Ruca, Kendal Grey, and Kelani Jordan becoming top stars on the women’s side while the men’s side, with exceptions like Oba Femi, has been filled by independent wrestlers.
Speaking on the AJ Styles Show, AJ gave his thoughts on why that is.
“I think you’re going to find homegrown more often on the women’s side than the male side. From my experience…I am biased when it comes to the independents. I know what it’s like to be there and bust your tail just to get noticed. I am very biased, and I think they are a lot better than perceived. The women, when it comes to homegrown talent who come straight from college athletics to the wrestling world, they seem to get it a little quicker than the males. It’s quite the opposite in the independents, where the guys seem to get it a lot quicker. I don’t know why that is, but I’ve tried to figure this out myself. I don’t know if it’s an ego thing where the independents, we know what wrestling looks like because we’ve watched it, enjoyed it, have an idea of how we sell and what it looks like, while the athlete has dedicated their life to that position and sport. To be a D1 athlete, it takes an ego. That ego is still in their system by the time they get to WWE, and we have to find a way to get that out as quickly as possible. Even I wrestled in college, and to a point, I was like, ‘I’m a wrestler. I don’t know about that entertainment stuff.’ Even I had to figure that out. I think that’s what slows the guys down in that process. I could be wrong. I’m just trying to put two and two together,” he said.
Kevin Owens recently commented on the women of NXT outperforming the men. You can find his full comments here.
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