WWE: How AJ Styles was born and his original character idea revealed

Almost all the best pro-wrestlers, before becoming large-than-life characters, have dabbled with a few bad gimmicks. Thankfully, WWE star AJ Styles did not have to experiment with a lot of characters since going professional, but he did have an awful idea for his first gimmick.

The Phenomenal One on Georgia Rock 100.5's Bailey and Southside morning show talked about his original idea for his wrestling character. He revealed that he really wanted to be a luchador and that too with a really bad name.

"I wanted to wear a mask! I loved those [masked wrestler] guys. I'm so glad that didn't happen...You can't breathe in masks. I don't know how these guys do it. I wanted to wear a mask and call myself 'Velocity.' What a terrible name. But I could do flips and everything. That was easy for me to do in the ring," he said.

He also talked about how he came to be known as AJ Styles as he fought his first-ever match as Mr. Olympia, a masked character. The wrestler's real name is Allen Neal Jones.

"I wore a mask, and wore my old singlet that I took from my college, turned it inside out, and I wore wrestling shoes, and I looked absolutely ridiculous."

Styles gave up on the idea of wearing a mask following his first fight.

"And my next match, I didn't have a name, and everybody always called me 'AJ' anyway, so I stuck with AJ. And then, [the promoter] is like, 'yeah, you're tagging with Damien Steel. We need a last name. Styles! Go!' That's it. That's how the name [came] about, AJ Styles. I hated it. I hated Styles for a really long time," he said.