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WWE News: AJ Styles compares leaving NJPW for WWE to Scott Hall and Kevin Nash leaving for WCW

Styles likens his departure to that of Hall and Nash

What’s the story?

As reported by Wrestling Inc, former WWE Champion AJ Styles has compared leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling for WWE to when Scott Hall and Kevin Nash decided to leave the company for WCW. Styles made the comments during a recent edition of Table For Three.

In case you didn’t know...

Back in early 2016, it was reported that WWE had raided NJPW for four of their hottest talents – AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Three of the four went straight to the main roster with Nakamura going down to NXT.

Meanwhile, a few decades prior, Hall and Nash made the jump from WWE to WCW – mainly for monetary purposes.

The heart of the matter

Styles had the following to say on the issue.

"I can tell you that, you talk about The Kliq, we were definitely guys who enjoyed hanging out together. We'd go out together. We didn't have to, but we wanted to, like, we enjoyed that. We went through the same thing that you guys are basically talking [about] right now. When we left Japan, it was Bálor first and then Anderson, Gallows, and myself all left at the same time, so you guys are talking about something that I've lived through myself."

What’s next?

Many people are expecting more NJPW stars to head over to WWE in the coming years, with one of the hottest names on the list being Kenny Omega. AJ Styles, on the other hand, continues to be a trailblazer on SmackDown Live, as he prepares to face Kevin Owens for the United States Championship at WWE Backlash.

Author’s take

It’s great to hear Styles talk about this kind of thing with legends of the business like Nash and Michaels, but we’d prefer if the company stopped focusing on things that happened 20 years ago and instead built towards the future.


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