17 Things We Learned From AJ Styles On Stone Cold's WWE Network Podcast
9. Who Are His Influences?
Steve says that in the early days of his career, he modeled himself after Ric Flair, but once he suffered the broken neck he had to modify his style and become a brawler and that was when his career really took off. He wants to know who Styles looks up to and was influenced by.
He answers that originally he was taken in by the more athletic guys, name-dropping Lance Storm as an amazing athlete who used to impress him with moves like dropkicks off the top rope.
However, once he began learning more about the business and getting more into the storytelling aspect, he really developed an appreciation for Shawn Michaels, calling him someone who could also adapt to any type of opponent. Styles admired Shawn and tried to figure out how to be more like him as a worker, and credits him for doing all the little things so wonderfully.