AJ Styles says you haven’t seen him hit one of his signature moves lately because he just can’t do it anymore.
Styles made a name for himself by hitting impressive aerial moves like the Spiral Tap, which saw him perform a senton bomb with a 360° twist in the air before landing on his opponent. Styles phased the move out of his arsenal later in his career, and he recently said it’s because he can’t do the move anymore.
AJ Styles made the admission during the latest episode of The Phenomenally Retro Podcast. Co-host Tony Giles asked if he could hit the Spiral Tap today, and Styles said it wasn’t happening.
“Nope. That—I didn’t forget about it, I just lost it. When you’re in the air, there’s some muscle memory that has to take place,” Styles explained. “[It] was a lot harder than I thought it was, so I lost it. It’s just difficult.”
Giles pointed out that Styles has a much bigger physique now; does he think that also made hitting the move harder?
“It’s not my size, it’s my body not being able to do the things that it used to do. Like my neck, I can’t right I can’t do the—I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s not like my neck is falling off or anything like that. It’s not like I can’t [move it] but I don’t have as much motion in my neck. I can’t I can’t do it. I can’t.”
AJ Styles has been open about his neck issues in the past
Karl Anderson previously said that Styles told him at his WWE RAW farewell show that he had to retire due to issues with his neck.
“Why is now the right time to retire? I mean, now’s the right time to retire so I don’t make a fool out of myself, so I don’t embarrass myself,” Styles said on the WWE Raw Recap. “I’m on the verge of doing just that. Now’s the time. It’s not easy, mind you, but it’s the time.”
Styles echoed the same comments during a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, explaining that the “use it or lose it” mentality was real. Styles said he was really scared that he would not be able to perform the move to his satisfaction, and guessed that he hadn’t done the Spiral Tap since he competed in TNA more than ten years ago.
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