6 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (March 11)
3. Dead Man Talking
WWE
AJ Styles was in rare form at the start of his Backstage interview with Renee Young and Xavier Woods, fleshing out the details of his programme with The Undertaker before going into detail on why he signed with WWE ("because they offered me a contract") and some token video game patter with UpUpDownDown aficionado Woods.
Young had noted at the start of the interview that she'd made it a New Year's Resolution to get Styles on and their chemistry was immediately apparent from the moment they unveiled their secret handshake/hug combo.
'The Phenomenal One' ranges from affable to aggravating in these scenarios but this particular performance thankfully favoured the former, presumably due to his comfort levels with the hosts. Interviews on this show are almost always excellent - it's a consistency the main roster could well do with trying to keep.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
