Vince McMahon’s Genius Idea for AJ Styles After Bringing Him into WWE

Every wrestler, whether from the WWE or other promotions, has their own in-ring style, which can often be hard to change. Luckily for AJ Styles, Vince McMahon didn’t want him to alter his in-ring characteristics after his WWE entry, which helped him flourish in the promotion.

The Phenomenal One shared his insights about McMahon’s directive during a two-day-old interview with Undisputed. He detailed how the former WWE boss wanted him to continue with the Japanese-style wrestling he did before his WWE entry. (via RomanEra0 on X)

When I went to WWE, Vince wanted me to be who I was in Japan. That style from Japan did not change when I went to WWE. That’s the guy Vince wanted, so I didn’t have to change anything. Maybe that’s why it got over so well.

However, Styles has also revealed that McMahon wasn’t happy with some of his performances and asked him to make minor changes to his style.

Vince McMahon Wanted to See the “Pitbull” in AJ Styles

Styles’ match with John Cena at Crown Jewel 2025 proved his incredible in-ring skills once more. Both wrestlers paid homage to several WWE stars by performing their moves during the match. However, in a business where betrayals and unexpected twists generate the most hype, Styles’ respectful, babyface nature has failed to create McMahon’s expected impact a few times.

Style made his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble 2016, where he couldn’t do anything significant. The Phenomenal One entered the winning column by winning his next match in the subsequent episode of Raw on January 25, 2016.

However, during his appearance on Chris Van Vilet’s podcast, Styles disclosed that McMahon was nowhere impressed by his performance despite winning against Jericho. The Lone Wolf disclosed that McMahon wanted him to channel his inner dog, specifically, a “pitbull.” (via Chris Van Vliet on YouTube)

I had a match [on the Raw after the Rumble] and I was giving him [McMahon] what I thought he wanted, a babyface, smiling… As I came back, he was like, ‘I got a thousand guys that can do what you do’… He said he wanted to see a pitbull [in me during my matches].

So, according to Styles, the notion that McMahon allowed Styles to be himself in the WWE was violated at least once. However, this wasn’t the former WWE boss’s only issue with the former TNA star.

AJ Styles on Why Vince McMahon Disliked Him

AJ Styles delivering a promo | Credits: WWE

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that McMahon often undervalued the stars from other promotions and even other sports. Avid WWE fans may remember how Vince and Co. made even the boxing legend, Mike Tyson, look bad by portraying him as inferior to Stone Cold in 1998.

Styles was already a household name in the pro wrestling community before his WWE entry, which made him an outsider to McMahon. During his interview with Van Vliet, Styles detailed a few more reasons why McMahon allegedly “did not like” him.

He did not care [about me]. He did not like AJ Styles, for whatever reason, and I’m sure I gave him a lot of reasons. I’m not the tallest guy, I have a southern accent. Like, there were several things he could hate about AJ Styles.

Styles may have avoided discussing McMahon’s alleged habit of looking down on stars from other promotions. However, do you think that disliking a master in-ring technician like him says that the former WWE boss actually had such an outlook? Let us know in the comments below.