Three knocks at the door.

Crew Member: 10 minutes Mr. Styles

AJ looked at the clock. He took a deep breath. Slowly he leaned his head back to rest against the cushioning of the couch. His right hand was grasping a glass of water. Slowly he raised his head from the back of the couch to bring his mouth to the glass. But instead of drinking, he paused. He placed the glass down on the small table that rested next to his overly luxurious couch. Slowly he stood only to be greeted by a nagging pain, his spine feeling the growing pressure of his age. He arched his head backwards and allowed the pops and cracks of his neck to be released alleviating the pressure. He took a few steps over to the mirror. Carefully he began to groom himself; straightens his shirt. His hair had been done several minutes ago. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs and stimulate the brain. He began to whisper out portions of the forthcoming conversation as he seen them playing out. Speaking in front of people was never a problem for AJ, but at this moment, he felt the pressure of the global audience.

Three more knocks against the door startle him from his mental seclusion.

Crew Member: Would you mind coming with me Mr. Styles? It’s time.

AJ Styles: Uh, yeah. Lead the way.

The polite crew member gestured with his hand. AJ walked in the direction which he was pointed. As he walked down the unfamiliar hallway the crew member was having a conversation on his headset. This was a relief that things seemed to be on schedule today, as normally a crew member would try to make small talk, and AJ simply didn’t have any in him at that moment.

Crew Member: Right here Mr. Styles.

AJ stopped and looked out at the stage. He planned to speak only the truth.

Larry King: My guest today, he’s a former World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, AJ Styles.

AJ stepped into the light. His eyes widen for just a moment. The bright lights were an old element of his life, but one that he hadn’t been exposed to lately. AJ reached forward with his hand and shook the TV icon’s hand.

AJ Styles: Thanks for having me.

AJ sat down and pulled the chair closer to the desk to scoot in. His mannerism is that of a carefully mannered person – very unfamiliar to those who know him best.

Larry King: Welcome to the show. Let’s dive straight in. What’s your status with wrestling currently?

AJ Styles: You know, I’ve learned something over the years in this business, no matter how much you love something, sometimes you have to step away from it to really appreciate what you had. I’m currently part time. Wrestling has given me a financial foundation where I’m able to enjoy my life as I please and focus on other things that are very important to me. I do plan to return to the ring soon. So keep an eye out.

Larry King: Now is this just an “angle”?

AJ Styles: Ha, no.

Larry began to chuckle briefly to himself as Styles grinned.

Larry King: Well, I can never tell. Sometimes it all seems pretty real when it’s not.

AJ Styles: Well that is the goal.

Larry King: So where is the line drawn for you guys?

AJ Styles: In theory it all stops the second you walk behind the curtain. But in today’s wrestling scene it never ends.

Larry King: Have you ever had any battles spill over to behind the scenes?

AJ Styles: Larry, I’ll be honest with you, most of my battles started back there and spilled over onto TV. For someone like me, the on screen stuff was the tame and TV friendly stuff... now what happened behind closed doors was the truly outlandish stuff.

Larry King: Before I go into this more, when we had a chance to speak earlier you mentioned the wrestler The Miz, one of your good friends.

AJ Styles: For many years, he was one of my best friends.

Larry King: And what happened?

AJ Styles: A while ago we were doing this Tag Team thing, it really…

Honest. Be Honest.

AJ Styles: Wasn’t working. I had my attention on other things besides being in the spotlight and Miz was focused. The called him up to win the title at WrestleMania and now he’s the reigning World Champion. I haven’t even had the chance to congratulate him. A series of bad choices left me with nothing...I uh…I was wrong. There is simply no other way to word it, I was wrong. Miz, if you’re watching this bro, I want you to know that I’m proud of you. All the money, drugs, and women distracted me from having your back when you needed me. I let my vices take over.

Larry King: And what was the repercussions of this?

AJ Styles: I got dropped to the bottom of the card.

Larry King: And why is that?

AJ Styles: The short of it is; Wes Ikeda – the man who plays the cool dad character, refused to push me.

Larry King: Why would he do that?

AJ Styles: Refuse to push me?

Larry King: Yes.

AJ Styles: I uh, I don’t know. I’m sure he will claim I’m unreliable, inconsistent, and unpredictable.

Larry King: Have you spoken with him latey?

AJ Styles: Yes I have.

Larry King: What was said?

AJ Styles: He asked me if I wanted to compete in the King of the Ring Tournament and I told him yes.

Larry King: King of the Ring…?

AJ Styles: An annual tournament to decide who will face the World Champion at Summerslam.

Larry King: So you’re telling me, you win the King of the Ring Tournament; you face your friend The Miz?


AJ Styles: And that’s the way wrestling works, Larry.

Larry King: We’re going to take a commercial break, but stay tuned, we’ve got more with pro wrestling’s AJ Styles.

AJ leaned back and sighed deeply. Larry leaned in. Styles in turn leans slightly forward to hear what the talk host wanted to say...

Larry King: So tell me, all cameras off; how much of that story was true?

AJ once again leaned back into his seat and looked off into nothing.

AJ Styles: Every word.

Not another word was spoken between them as they sat in silence. Larry tried to take measure of this human being sitting in front of him. Physically imposing, and yet he was not a dumb brute. Not someone who Larry thought would lose control in such a way.

Crew member: We’re back in, in 5-4-3-

The crew member continued the count down on his fingers only as the red recording light switched on.

Larry King: And we’re back here with pro wrestling super star AJ Styles. Now Mr. Styles-

AJ Styles: You can just call me AJ, Mr. Styles is a little too formal for a guy like me.

Larry King: A guy like you – you mean a wrestler?

AJ Styles: I mean a man like me in general. I’m not, uh, I’m not exactly a man who needs to be called Mister.

Larry King: Understandable – and I’m sorry.

AJ Styles: Hm?

Larry King: OK, well we’re going to go to the phones and take a few calls. First up we have Abraham from Colorado. Hello Abraham.

Abraham (on the phone): Hi Larry. Hi AJ!

AJ Styles: How’s it going Abraham?

Abraham: Good, I just wanted to say I’m a huge fan, Trilogy for life! I want to know if you’re ever going to do any movies?

AJ Styles: That’s really not something I’m interested in at the moment. Maybe in the future I might want to try it out but for now I’m content.

Larry King: Next up we have Sasha from Missouri. You’re on Sasha.

Sasha (on the phone): Hi Larry…hello AJ Styles. AJ Styles, do you have trouble sleeping at night? Knowing that so many of your fellow wresters despise you?

AJ Styles: Are you a wrestling fan Sasha?

Sasha (on the phone):Yes Sir.

AJ Styles: What do you do for a living?

Sasha (on the phone): I’m a Librarian.

AJ Styles: Well Ms. Sasha, it would be hard to explain to you the atmosphere in which I work. You see, we don’t go home at the end of the day. We go back to the same hotel. We don’t take weekends off, we get our heads smashed in with folding chairs for the enjoyment of people. The very nature of our business is violence, brutality, stories of betrayal and deceit. In the morning we don’t wake up next to our spouse and have cereal with our kids before we head out the door and go to our 9-5…we wake up in throbbing pain, and then spend a couple hours working out despite being in so much pain it’s hard to get out of bed. The men I wrestle, the same men who I’ve screwed over in some cases, are the ones I’ve spent most of my life with. And quite possibly the sickest comfort in all the backstabbing I’ve done in my life is the knowledge that most of them expected me to do it, in fact I believe most of them would have done the same to me given the chance.

Sasha (on the phone): An eye for an eye Mr. Styles. And we all go blind.

AJ Styles: Maybe you’re right Sasha. And maybe a better man will lose sleep over it. But I don’t.

Larry King: We have time for one more caller. Glenn for New York.

Glenn (on the phone): I have a question for AJ. There’s a lot of talk about the next generation of guys, anyone in particular catch your eye?

AJ Styles: I’m going to go on record as saying I haven’t so much as watched 5 seconds of wrestling since you last saw me on TV. Having said that, I’ve always said the Top Guys are - Chris Jericho, Miz, Orton, & Edge but If I had to tell you one person that I think is the guy to expect big things from, look no further than Jimmy Havoc. The kid will be a World Champion one day. Mark my words.

Larry King: It certainly seems like you still have your thumb on the pulse of the pro wrestling business. Any final words before we go?

AJ leaned into the table. His arms rested heavily on the desk as he searched for the words he wished to share.

AJ Styles: You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone. My hope is that I’ve been able to entertain a few people during my career…if I have, than it’s been a career worth having.

Larry King: AJ Styles, it’s been a pleasure.

AJ didn’t reply. He somewhat smirked quietly to himself as Larry did his send off.

Larry King: Thank you, and goodnight.

The camera pulled back and left the two men with their mics off.

Larry King: Something more you wanted to say?

AJ Styles: I wanted to say I’m not finished yet. The next time I come on this show, I’ll be the Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Larry reached his hand toward AJ, and the two men shared a hand shake. Styles knew that if he wanted to make good on those words he would have to do a lot of hard work, and it all starts with the 2018 King of the Ring.