As we
have previously reported,
AJ Styles was recently a guest on
Talk Is Jericho. In addition to discussing his big
WWE debut, Styles talked about turning down a WWE deal in 2002, Shinsuke Nakamura's impending debut for NXT, who he would like to work with in the WWE, and his discussions with
Vince McMahon regarding the AJ Styles character.
According to Styles, he had the opportunity to sign with WWE in 2002, but he passed it up because it was not the best deal for him to make at the time.
"I had the opportunity [to sign with WWE] before, in 2002, but it was just bad timing." Styles added, "not that I didn't want it. My wife was in college and that was her dream, so it was hard. It was a hard decision to make, but everything happened for a reason, I think. I really believe that I had to go other places to get to this point in my life. I really believe that and I wouldn't have changed anything."