A.J. Styles Q&A: WWE champ calls out 'Today' show co-hosts

Before next weekend’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and Falcons, two WWE competitors representing Massachusetts and Georgia will battle at the Royal Rumble from the Alamodome in San Antonio.

John Cena (West Newbury, Mass.) challenges A.J. Styles (Gainesville, Ga.) for the WWE championship. Cena, a 15-time world champion and media darling, needs no introduction. Your mom is aware of John Cena at this point of his well-documented career.

She is likely not aware of Styles, a relative newcomer to the mainstream WWE audience compared to his competition on Sunday. But his body of work is just as impressive as Cena.

This week marks one year since Styles made his WWE debut at last year’s Royal Rumble in Orlando. Since then, he’s gone on to defeat Cena twice and eventually win the WWE championship last September at “Backlash.” Prior to coming to WWE, Styles wrestled all around the world, headlining shows for such promotions at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

All roads in professional wrestling seemingly lead to the WWE and Styles has adapted to his new surroundings.

“I’ve been doing this for a while and I think the reason why I fit in with the WWE is I’ve pretty much had that … I wouldn’t say style … but I understand how things are suppose to work in the ring,” Styles told Yahoo Sports. “For me, going from the indies or Japan to WWE was no problem whatsoever. There are a lot more cameras, that was the biggest thing. You need to make sure the camera sees you at all times. That may have been the biggest obstacle. Other than that, it’s been pretty easy.”

Styles spoke with Yahoo Sports about how John Cena would do on the independent scene, being a man of faith in the wrestling industry and how he has a special message for “Today” show co-hosts Tamron Hall and Al Roker.

What’s been your favorite moment during your first year in the WWE?

Geez, man. I think everybody’s favorite moment, including my own, has got to be the Royal Rumble, my debut. That was pretty unbelievable.

Where does your Royal Rumble debut rank in your career achievements?

Dude, I got to say that’s No. 1. The reaction and surprise. That’s what it’s about. A lot of people think it’s about winning the championship, and that’s amazing. But the reason why that happens is because of the reactions and it’s all about entertaining the fans. Heck, having them go that crazy in Orlando for the Royal Rumble for one guy coming out, that’s exactly what you want.

Did you have any reservations about the reaction considering you were a guy that was very well known on the independent scene, but to the WWE fanbase, you might not have been on their radar?

Oh, 100 percent. I was very nervous that there would be crickets when I walked out. I was surprisingly wrong, thank God.

How would John Cena really do on the independent wrestling scene?

Let’s talk about that. The independent scene is really hard. When I say that, it’s because you may be the guy coming in from a different state that no one knows. So, how are you going to have people react? A lot of that has to take place through stuff they haven’t seen before and stuff they didn’t expect in the ring. That takes a lot of athletic ability to get eyes on you and to pay attention sometimes. Every type of wrestling you can think of, you need to adapt to this guy who might only do lucha stuff or this guy might be 6-foot-8, so we know he’s not doing that. All that stuff has to happen.

But I say that [to say] how John Cena would do, nobody is really going to know. But I would venture to say as a nobody coming in, eyes would be on John Cena based on his look alone. He’s a tank. He’s a jacked-up man. That’s the first thing people would see, so he would get a reaction on the way he looks. Now, what happens in the ring won’t be as easy because the whole “You Can’t See Me” thing, people aren’t going to go and do that with him because people haven’t seen him before. There’s a lot that goes into the independents that a lot of people don’t understand. Who’s to say whether John would have done well or done terrible in the indies. How will we ever know? We won’t.

Is there a sense of pride that yourself, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins carry in the WWE knowing that your backgrounds are different than some wrestlers?

Absolutely. I think traveling the world, doing the independents, is a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. I’ve got all these guys who sit at the computer and judge everything that happens in sports entertainment. I’ve got them long before coming to the WWE. These kinds of people will appreciate the fact that he’s one of us, he came through the independents. I think that helps with getting people to react. That had a lot to do with Orlando at the Royal Rumble. People reacted because they said he’s one of us. He’s one of our guys.

Do you find it challenging to be a man of a faith in an industry like professional wrestling?

Not at all. Everybody respects everybody. No matter what they believe. Everyone is very respectful and overall good bunch of people. That’s what the WWE is now and it’s been like that a lot. Everybody thinks that wrestling is a red-headed stepchild. The people are rude and obnoxious or whatever it is that people seem to think sometimes, but the truth is they are very intelligent, driven people in the sport that I do. They’ve got more important things to worry about than care about how someone feels when it comes to religion or whatever. They treat everyone the same. You have to get in the ring with these people and they want to have great matches with them. So the best way to do that is to get along.

Would you trade a Falcons Super Bowl win for the shot at headlining WrestleMania 33?

Yes. I hope you don’t print that one. Can you imagine all the Falcons fans mad at me?

What are your thoughts about the Super Bowl?

One-hundred percent the Falcons are going to win. No doubt in my mind. The Falcons are unstoppable. Who would have thought these guys from Atlanta would have beat the crap out of Green Bay? I’m just saying.

How would you grade Nikki Bella’s A.J. Styles impersonation?

Her beard is terrible. I think that’s tape. It’s OK, I guess.

Have you seen better?

I’ve seen better. The tape threw me off. I don’t think she had the right hair. I know she didn’t have the right hair. I even lent her the pants. I was trying to help her out.

Is there anything you want to say to Al Roker and Tamron Hall following their comments this week on the “Today” show?

I would like for her [Tamron] to do some research before she tries to talk about something she has no idea about. The fact of the matter is she didn’t know what John Cena did for a living. But guess what? There’s this little thing called YouTube and you can do a lot of things and research a lot of stuff on there.

As for Al goes, he said he didn’t say anything. I beg to differ, Al. I would say you are involved, sir. You are just jealous because you have no hair.