In a new interview with talkSPORT’s Alex McCarthy AJ Styles has revealed that along with Sasha Banks and Xavier Woods he met with Vince McMahon about the company’s ban on talents using third-party streaming services.
Since WWE began cracking down on the use of third-party streaming platforms back in September, it has become the issue which refuses to go away. It has created wider conversations about WWE Superstars’ status as independent contractors, and was instrumental in the hugely popular Zelina Vega leaving the company.
AJ Styles, who had already been using Twitch for a long period, has revealed that not only did a meeting take place, but that he “wasn’t happy” about the ban. When asked about his time using Twitch and if he had met with McMahon over the issue Styles said;
I did, myself, Xavier Woods and Sasha Banks had a sit down meeting in Connecticut with Vince about this whole situation, and it was determined that it’s intellectual property. This is [points at face]. We do well, as far as the WWE, and if there’s an opportunity to pay back that money that we work had for, at different times, we probably should.”
The Phenomenal One then went on to explain that he had been streaming for a long time, and while he wasn’t happy with the ban he’s a team player, and did what he needed to do.
“I was doing this long before the lockdown, before the Coronavirus, i was streaming and doing my thing. I was always doing it on my time off. It wasn’t during… so things happened, listen, i wasn’t happy about it, no one was. But, it is what it is, i’ll handle it the way that i have to. I’m a team player, and he’s captain. I’ll follow his lead as far as Vince is concerned. Will it change? Will something happen? They’re working on it as we speak. Will i be happy with it? Probably not.”
Although Styles remains optimistic about streaming in the future, commenting that;
“The opportunity to stream in the future is wide open. I obviously have the equipment, i just don’t have the opportunity to do that right now.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Styles discussed his match with The Undertaker at Wrestlemania, and his rivalry with Drew McIntyre.
Meanwhile, Styles challenged McIntyre for the WWE Championship at TLC but was unsuccessful in his attempt to dethrone the champion.