AJ Styles Offers Valuable Advice to WWE's NIL Athletes

When AJ Styles speaks, all young talent should listen.

Last month on WWE Raw, AJ Styles officially retired from in-ring competition and was instantly announced as the latest inductee into the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame. But just because Styles is done in the ring doesn't mean he's done with WWE.

The Phenomenal One has taken on a new backstage role in WWE, which will see him assisting talent in both NXT and on the main roster, as well as scouting the independent scene to help the company find its future main-event stars.

But what does he think of the current crop of talent at the Performance Center?

AJ Styles details the difference between former independent talent and WWE NIL athletes

On the latest episode of his Phenomenally Retro Podcast, when asked about the wealth of young talent out there getting signed to WWE early on as opposed to being a journeyman and getting there later in their career, Styles speaks on the importance of finding that talent now.

"Well, the thing is, we got to find them now when they're young," AJ Styles said. "Because we're always looking for talent, and there's always places to go. There's two places to go now, right? It's not just one. So, being able to get them when they're young, and a lot of them have been on the indies at this point that I think that the indies girls and guys have been on the indies have a step up on the NIL guys.

"Not because the NIL athletes are not athletes or nothing, but they dedicated their lives to whatever sport they pursued in college, they dedicated to that. Where the independent group of wrestlers, they've already been dedicating their life to this at an early age.

"This is what they wanted to do their whole life, and went to the independents, and so they watched wrestling. They know all the mannerisms and who the superstars are, and they just get it a little bit earlier, because that's what they've wanted to do their whole lives."

AJ Styles wants WWE's NIL athletes to go back and study older professional wrestling

Despite the advantage former independent wrestlers possess, Styles believes WWE's NIL athletes have proven they are capable of catching up, putting over their work ethic. The Phenomenal One would go on to provide this class of WWE NIL athletes with a very important piece of advice: watch more professional wrestling.

"I'm not saying the NIL's aren't going to be able to keep up with them," AJ Styles continued. "It's not what I'm saying because over time, they have. But I'll say this about the NIL, they know what it's like to go out there and bust their tail. They work hard because that's who they are. That's what they've always done. That's all I know is 100% every day practice, wherever it is.

"So the only thing that I would say to NIL group of guys and girls is watch pro wrestling, not just the current stuff, but the older stuff. Go back, find the libraries, and watch them all, and know your history, because you'll find stuff in there that not a lot of people do anymore. And so what is old is new again, right? Because it's not been done. So, yeah. I mean, we got a great group of guys and girls coming up. Man, I'm excited to see what they do in WWE."

It's worth noting WWE has already found some great success with the NIL program creating new stars for the men's and women's divisions such as Oba Femi and Sol Ruca.