{"id":12190,"date":"2016-02-29T14:11:01","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T20:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=12190"},"modified":"2016-02-29T14:11:01","modified_gmt":"2016-02-29T20:11:01","slug":"12190","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/02\/29\/12190\/","title":{"rendered":"A.J. Styles reveals why he left Japan, talks signing with WWE, D-Bryan retirement, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2669697161\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>A.J. Styles says the key factor that\u00a0led to him leaving New Japan was the distance from home. And, after considering offers on the table (including TNA), he decided that WWE offered him the most financial security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the jump was due to timing,\u201d Styles told Justin Sarachik for <a href=\"http:\/\/rapzilla.com\/rz\/features\/interviews\/12802-aj-styles-talks-royal-rumble-chris-jericho-the-journey-to-the-wwe?utm_content=buffer8ee8b&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer\" target=\"_blank\">Rapzilla.com<\/a>\u00a0in a new interview. \u201cBeing in Japan, being away from home, was pretty scary because if something happened, I would have to jump on a plane and go home, and that scared me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As for which promotion would get his services after wrestling for New Japan, Styles said, &#8220;There were a lot of offers out on the table and I thought I\u2019d contact WWE, and there was no money left on the table there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Styles said he does not consider his WWE debut being too late in his career, as he feels like he is still in his prime. His only regret is not being able to wrestle Daniel Bryan on the big stage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had unbelievable matches and selfishly I was hoping I\u2019d have the chance to wrestle Daniel Bryan and have one of those classic matches that we had years ago. I know we could definitely do that,&#8221; Styles said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate what had happened and he handled it better than I handled it. That was very emotional for him and he seemed pretty strong and confident that everything is going to be okay. A class act. I can\u2019t say enough great things about him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Styles said Bryan&#8217;s retirement has made him pay attention to his physical condition to ensure his longevity in WWE.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil something unexpected happens, I\u2019m going to keep doing what I\u2019m doing. You have to keep listening to your body, protect it, and also take care it. Don\u2019t wait until the last second. Injuries are going to happen and being in pain is part of the lifestyle we live,&#8221; Styles said.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2361227311\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3297588601\"><div id=\"pwtor-3818709762\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>A.J. Styles says the key factor that\u00a0led to him leaving New Japan was the distance from home. And, after considering offers on the table (including TNA), he decided that WWE offered him the most financial <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/02\/29\/12190\/\" title=\"A.J. Styles reveals why he left Japan, talks signing with WWE, D-Bryan retirement, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,3],"tags":[90,87,120,71],"class_list":["post-12190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news_japan","category-news_tna","category-news_wwe","tag-aj-styles","tag-new-japan","tag-tna","tag-wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/01\/StylesRumble_3x2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12191,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12190\/revisions\/12191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}