AJ Styles has no problem admitting that at least one rule from Vince McMahon’s WWE was the right call. Even after years of wrestling around the world before joining the company, Styles quickly learned that working a WWE match for television required an entirely different kind of awareness.
While speaking on The AJ Styles Show, Styles explained why he believes NXT remains so important for developing wrestlers. It isn’t simply about learning moves or becoming comfortable inside the ring. Talent also needs to understand timing, television production and how to work with WWE’s cameras.
“But that’s what NXT is for, is so that they can cut their teeth, get all their experience, and, you know, when it comes to the ring and making sure they hit their times and everything like that, but also being in front of a crowd that’s on television, you know.”
Styles had already spent years working for TNA and New Japan before arriving in WWE, so he wasn’t exactly learning professional wrestling from scratch. However, he quickly discovered that neither promotion had completely prepared him for the way WWE shoots its television.
“Like, the same, like it’s necessary for NXT. Especially if you’ve never wrestled before. And even if you have wrestled before, I think, I thank God that I was able to learn as quickly as I did once I got to WWE. Now, I know you’re thinking, well, you were in TNA and you’re in New Japan. It’s not the same. It’s not the same. There’s a lot more cameras involved in WWE than you could imagine.”
One of the biggest lessons involved the hard camera. Styles said wrestlers were taught not to turn their backs to it, and while he specifically acknowledged that the rule came from the Vince McMahon era, he still believes WWE had it right.
“And there’s ways that you need to turn so that you never put your back to the hard camera. I’ve said this before and I, and listen, it was a Vince era back then, but it’s the right way. It’s the right way to do it.”
Styles understands why that can initially feel unnatural. The majority of the live audience may be sitting opposite the hard camera, which naturally makes a wrestler want to turn toward those fans. The problem is that WWE isn’t only performing for the people sitting inside the arena. Styles pointed out that the much larger audience is watching through those cameras at home.
“So, you have to learn these things because even though opposite of hard cams where all the people are, right, in the arena, that’s not where all the fans are. All the fans are in those cameras. They’re the millions of people that watch weekly.”
Styles learned that lesson almost immediately after arriving in WWE. Earlier in the conversation, he admitted that New Japan hadn’t prepared him for that part of television wrestling at all, while TNA hadn’t placed nearly as much emphasis on it either.
“New Japan definitely doesn’t prepare you for where the cameras are because they’re not in on the gig here, as far as camera works. There’s no rehearsals and so it doesn’t work the way… TNA really never said too much.”
Styles had picked up some advice from wrestlers who already understood WWE’s system, but things became much clearer once he actually joined the company.
“I’d hear from different wrestlers who had been through the dance who were telling me, ‘Hey, always do this, do that, do this.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ So, I’m learning from them.”
Longtime WWE cameraman Stu eventually pulled Styles aside and gave him a crash course in how WWE wanted things done. The advice wasn’t limited to matches either. Even during promos, Styles learned that he needed to remain aware of where the camera was positioned.
“And then once I get to WWE, Stu, the camera guy that’s been there for a really long time, pulls me aside and says, ‘Don’t turn your back to the camera. Walk like this. Don’t do this.’ And that’s where I learned about not turning your back to the camera. And in any circumstance, even when I’m in the ring cutting a promo, don’t turn your back to the camera. Open up to the camera.”
Styles is especially grateful that someone bothered to explain those details instead of waiting for him to make a mistake. Otherwise, he believes he probably would have discovered the rules only after someone backstage got angry with him.
“You know, there was a lot of things that he showed me and told me so that I didn’t screw up and get yelled at. And I’m so thankful for Stu for taking me aside and telling me these things because I would have never known until somebody was pi**ed at me.”
There wasn’t much time to gradually figure it out either. Styles said adjusting to WWE’s television style was something he needed to do immediately.
“But it was something I had to learn quick. Not tomorrow, now.”
That experience is a big reason Styles sees so much value in NXT. Wrestlers can learn those details before reaching WWE’s biggest stages, while also understanding another philosophy he believes still works regardless of how much wrestling has changed.
“But my point is NXT is necessary. I think it’s very valuable to get in there with and even go through the less is more aspect of pro wrestling because that is a real thing and it still works.”
Styles may associate the hard-camera rule with Vince McMahon’s WWE, but he isn’t rejecting it just because it came from that era. After having to completely rethink how he positioned himself when he arrived in the company, Styles believes keeping the television audience in mind remains one of those old WWE lessons worth keeping.
Do you agree with AJ Styles that WWE’s Vince McMahon-era hard-camera rule is still the right way to work television matches? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
