AJ Styles is spending his retirement teaching, and one of his students is his own 19-year-old son. Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Styles said the hardest part of coaching Avery has been pushing him to stop copying his dad.
He wants to be like his dad. I told him, ‘You have to be you. You can do stuff I’ve done, but that’s not who you are. You have to be Avery Styles. You have to be different.'
The Lesson It Took Him Years To Learn
Styles credits his own longevity to a shift in how he approached matches, one that only clicked well into his career. Fans who thought he slowed down had it wrong, he says.
A lot of people say, ‘He slowed down.’ Wrong. I just learned psychology. Matches are a lot better doing less. I watch my stuff from my 20s and go, ‘What are you doing? This makes no sense. No psychology, just moves for the sake of moves.’ Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
That philosophy shapes how he coaches now. He keeps coming back to one question with young talent.
Why is the thing every veteran comes back to. If you can explain the ‘why’ to them, it makes sense where you put it. We’re not doing things because we can, they have to make sense, or your match is all over the place.
The Thing You Can’t Coach
The toughest habit to break in newer wrestlers, Styles says, is speed.
There are little things you can’t coach, like timing, not rushing. It’s a young disease that most wrestlers have; they rush through everything. If we can figure out how to slow them down, that’s the magic right there.
Even with his own high standards, Styles admits he can’t watch himself work.
I don’t like watching my matches, I’ll find something I hate. It could be the best match ever and I’ll go, ‘This is terrible.’ It’s the obsession of doing everything as perfect as I possibly can that I hope separates me from other guys.
He’s been effusive about Avery’s early progress, having already said his son’s debut was better than his own.
AJ Styles and Tony Giles host the The Phenomenally Retro Podcast, a weekly video show dedicated to retro video games, professional wrestling, and more.
