AJ Styles Recalls Backstage Creative Meeting With John Cena Prior To Their Feud In WWE

During a recent stream on his Twitch channel, AJ Styles recalled his early days in WWE, and credited current AEW star, Chris Jericho, for being a major help to him upon entering the company. Jericho was Styles' first real feud in WWE.

"I love Chris," Styles said. "I can't say enough good things about him. The dude is just awesome. My first WrestleMania was with Chris and he was all about helping me out. From the Royal Rumble when I debuted all the way to WrestleMania, he was always trying to help me out. Big thanks to Chris."

After Styles finished up his feud with Jericho, he eventually found himself working with Cena in a highly entertaining feud. Styles recalled their initial talks when setting up what kind of story they wanted to tell, and having to tell Cena that he wanted to bring up the perception of him burying everyone he works with.

"I remember the first time we had the opportunity to talk about what we wanted to do and what kind of story we wanted to tell," Styles said. "He was asking what I wanted to say about him, and I was like – this is John Cena, you know, so I'm trying to figure out how to approach this without being a jerk about it – so, I was like, 'Well, people always seem to think you bury them once you get in the ring with them, and it's kind of over for them after that.'

"He was just like, 'Okay that's good,' Styles added. "He went on to say, 'Well, I tried digging up some stuff on you and I couldn't really find anything', so that's when he ended up coming up with the stuff about, 'Well, if you don't like it then you'll just end up leaving to go somewhere else'. But I thought it was really cool that he takes some real stuff and throws it in the mix of entertainment, and you ended up with a matchup like AJ Styles and John Cena. I enjoyed working with him and can't wait for the next one."

Jericho has been tasked with the same goal of helping get younger or more inexperienced talent over in AEW. Most notably, Jericho was heavily involved in making Orange Cassidy be viewed as a main event caliber performer. Jericho even praised one of his matches with Cassidy as one of the best matches he's had in his 30 year career, while also praising what a great wrestler he actually is.

"It's one of the best matches I've ever had. I really, really enjoyed it," Jericho said. "It's definitely worth checking out. Orange is great. He really is. He's a great performer and when first came into the business – I've heard about him, was not a fan because of his gimmick. I think he really proved me wrong. I realized, 'Holy smokes, he is actually a great wrestler.' Great performer. He did the unthinkable.

"He definitely made it by doing something different," Jericho added. "Like I said last week on Dynamite, the late Brian Pillman told me, 'If you want to make it in wrestling, you have to do something that has never been done before.' Orange did that. Congratulations. As soon as I pulled my head out of my a–, I realized this guy is unique. He's different, he's great, and I became a big fan."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.