AJ Styles believes in-ring selling is one area where pro wrestling has gotten worse over time. Admitting that he is “just as responsible for this as anyone,” Styles told the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast that he feels wrestlers have gotten away from the old-school art of selling. He would like to see the industry return to a “less is more” type of approach.
“I can tell you the one thing that’s missing, and I still, to this day, I will go over my buddy’s house, before we work out, and we will watch old-school wrestling, it’s what we do. That’s kind of our thing,” Styles said. “And the one thing that I think is missing the most is selling.”
Styles continued, “The way they used to sell back in the day, man, they really made you believe that this hurt, you know, that this guy’s in pain. And I just feel like we’ve gotten away from that, and I’m just as guilty as anybody. But if we could take it back and make [a] less is more kind of thing happen, I think that would be best for everybody.”
While the 48-year-old Styles misses old-school selling, he named chair shots as one thing he is glad is less common than they used to be. “You know what? After taking them for so many years, I’m glad chair shots are gone,” he said. “I mean, you tried to find ways of making them hurt less by like jumping into it when he’s throwing it, you’re kind of putting your head into it so he doesn’t get a full swing.”
“But at the end of the day, it never feels good. And I’d love to tell you that chairs to the back feel good, but they don’t,” Styles stated. “Kurt Angle almost knocked my soul out of my body. I mean, there’s been some hits from a chair shot. They’re pretty strong — some guys swing ’em. And you got to. You got to.”
Styles, who currently holds the World Tag Team titles with Dragon Lee on WWE Raw, is set to retire from the ring at some point in 2S026. He has not set a definitive date for when his last match will be.