news-engine

An unexpected online feud broke out this weekend between AJ Styles and Arik Cannon after Cannon criticized Avery Styles, AJ’s son, over an incident at a GCW event last Saturday. The situation began when Fightful shared a quote from Nattie on X praising Avery Styles and Marcus Mathers for their match at the GCW show in Minneapolis, which she attended in person. Nattie said she wanted to get Avery into her wrestling school and praised him for being willing to “pay his dues” as a young wrestler. Cannon, a Minneapolis native and longtime veteran of the wrestling business, took issue with the praise and responded: “As someone who watched this kid skirt away from helping with a single thing at this very show…I’d just like to say: L O F’ING L !” AJ Styles then quote-tweeted Cannon’s post, defending his son: “He was paid to wrestle at GCW, not help you put up and take down the ring. That sounds like your job. You just sound like a jealous douche.” Cannon responded by making it clear that he respects AJ, while maintaining his criticism of Avery: “I have all of the respect in the world for you, AJ. I understand why you’d defend your son, and it is admirable. But the fact remains… He can stay “AJ’s kid”, continue to skirt responsibility, & paying dues. Or he can earn the respect of his peers, & stand on his own as Avery.” Styles fired back with an analogy regarding the expectations placed on a wrestler who is booked for a show: “You don’t ask someone to have dinner at your house and have them do the dishes. He was asked to wrestle at GCW. Although grateful for the opportunity, a vet would have talked to him professionally or at least face to face.” Cannon then offered another response, claiming that Avery had specifically been asked to help with the chairs on two occasions: “A 20+ year vet & promoter asked him to help w/ the chairs. TWICE! Instead of helping, he hid in the locker room until everything was done. My 2 cents isn’t going to affect his future… But with all due respect, you stating he doesn’t need to help is only doing him a disservice.” As of this writing, AJ Styles has not responded to Cannon’s latest comments, although he could potentially address the situation on his next podcast episode. Interestingly, Styles and Cannon have crossed paths twice in the ring, with both matches taking place in 2004. Styles holds a 2-0 record over Cannon. NOTE: If you have any news tips or podcast recaps that you’d like to send in for us to post (full credit will be given to you), please email me at [email protected].