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A former WWE Superstar recently shared what he said to AJ Styles ahead of their first match in TNA Wrestling. Tommy Dreamer also used Randy Orton as an example to discuss how veterans should be used by wrestling companies.
On the latest episode of The Master's Class podcast on Busted Open Radio, Dreamer, Mark Henry, Bully Ray, and Dave LaGreca discussed the importance of veterans in a wrestling roster. They mainly talked about Natalya's role in WWE, while also advising wrestlers on how to be great locker room vets.
The Innovator of Violence preached honesty as an important part of being a veteran. He called Orton the standard bearer on how to use aging stars while sharing the story of his conversation with a young Styles before their first match in TNA.
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"Honesty. It's not holding on to your spot. It's having value while endorsing new talent while keeping yourself a top talent. Randy Orton is a phenomenal example of using a veteran to their peak. ... I can talk from experience. I've talked about it before, me going to TNA, my first opponent was AJ Styles. I have to be honest with AJ. 'AJ, this means everything to me but I also have to, I'm not the performer that I was,'" Dreamer said. [1:37 - 2:25]
Tommy Dreamer worked with both Randy Orton and AJ Styles during his career. Dreamer wrestled Orton a couple of times in WWE, while he battled Styles in his first year in TNA.
AJ Styles is on hiatus from WWE TV
It's been more than three months since AJ Styles last appeared on WWE television, losing to Cody Rhodes at Clash at the Castle in Scotland. Styles has remained active on house shows and toured with the roster in Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
According to Fightful Select (H/T Inside The Ropes), Styles is healthy and is not nursing any injuries. He's just not being used on television and it's unclear when he will make his return.
The Phenomenal One also represented WWE in an inter-promotional match against Naomichi Marufuji at the NOAH Destination event back in July held at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.
