AJ Styles Defends NARAKU’s Decision To Start His WWE Run In NXT
AJ Styles understands the thought process behind EVIL heading to WWE NXT.
The April 28 edition of WWE NXT saw former IWGP Heavyweight Championship holder EVIL make his WWE debut as he confronted NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo. Despite his vast experience with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, various reports indicated that the ‘King of Darkness’ personally chose to begin his WWE tenure on the NXT brand rather than heading straight to the main roster.
Speaking on his Phenomenally Retro Podcast, AJ Styles defended the decision for EVIL to start in WWE NXT, highlighting the differences in production and presentation between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and WWE.
“Can I just say this? You know, Shinsuke Nakamura was also in NXT. I’m just throwing that out there. I think there’s certain things that we all need to learn in NXT that will prepare us for the main roster. Even I can say this. I had to learn quick. ‘Holy crap, they don’t do this, they do this, boom, boom, boom.’ It was a learning process and I had to learn quick because I was on there. I couldn’t afford to screw up or mess up or whatever it is you want to call it. I wanted to stay on the main roster and I had to impress the guy in charge. So we don’t want anybody to go up to the main roster and have to learn like that. I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s better it’s just a smooth transition. You know where all the cameras are. You know not to turn your back to a camera. A lot of people don’t know that. That was a big thing with me. And Stu, our cameraman, he was like, ‘Hey, AJ, make sure you turn this way instead of putting your back to the hard camera.’ There’s little things that you do that people don’t even think of. You just don’t turn your back to the hard camera. It sounds silly, but I get it. It’s important. So we have to make sure that EVIL, as we’re gonna call him, doesn’t turn his back to the hard camera. That he knows where all of them are and how we film and everything and produce because you don’t do that in Japan. There’s no producers in Japan because it doesn’t matter where the cameras are. They just shoot. They don’t know, at least when I was there, they didn’t know that it was entertainment. It was a sport. So the camera guys were not involved in the booking meetings, whatever, the meetings in general. So we need to know where all this stuff is. It’s important.”
-AJ Styles
Whilst EVIL’s WWE ring name initially remained a mystery following his arrival, he later reintroduced himself as NARAKU. Last week’s episode of WWE NXT saw NARAKU make his in-ring debut for WWE, picking up a victory over Lince Dorado.
Congratulations are also in order for both EVIL, now known as NARAKU, and IYO SKY, with the pair officially announcing their marriage earlier today. Now both under the WWE umbrella, NARAKU will no doubt be hoping to follow in his wife’s footsteps as he sets his sights on becoming NXT Champion.
Elsewhere during the podcast, AJ Styles AJ Styles reflected on knowing that he would not win the WWE Championship during his feud with Cody Rhodes. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on future plans for NARAKU as soon as we hear more.
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