‘I Was Ashamed’ – WWE Star Credits AJ Styles For Convincing Him To Wrestle Shirtless

A WWE star has credited AJ Styles for convincing him to wrestle shirtless following his recent weight loss.

After several months off TV due to a dental injury, Jacob Fatu made his big return during Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre’s Three Stages Of Hell Match on the January 9 episode of SmackDown.

While his dramatic interference would see fate inadvertently cost Rhodes the Undisputed WWE Championship, one less talked about aspect of The Samoan Werewolf’s return was his noticeably trimmer frame.

When discussing his absence from WWE TV with Busted Open, Fatu addressed his weight loss – which was motivated by both comments from WWE producer Michael Hayes and the feeling that his opportunity in WWE was slipping through his fingers.

Fatu said:

“I looked at my weight, I looked where I was at. I won’t never forget Michael Hayes saying this, this is the truth, he said, ‘Jacob, depending on your conditioning depends on where you’re going.’

“I remember coming back off a run-in, ‘It’s not looking too good.’ He just looked the other way and that was like two weeks before I got injured and got the teeth (pulled out). 

“But then I had to remember man, ‘All the years I took to get here, what are you doing?’”

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Fatu then gave a shout out to AJ Styles for convincing him to wrestle shirtless at Saturday Night’s Main Event on January 24,

“I want to shout out AJ Styles, he seen me at Saturday Night’s Main (Event) and he seen the transformation and he was like ‘Dude are you freaking gonna wear a shirt out there?’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’

“(He said) You freaking got abs I’ll would go out there with no shirt.’ So shout out to AJ baby, congratulations on the retirement. But it was because of him.

“I was ashamed to take it off, I was gonna wrestle with no shirts but it was just a process of doing it. And when The Phenomenal One says, ‘Hey man, I would do this.’ I’m like, ‘Ok I’m a listen.’”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Following his retirement at Royal Rumble 2026, WWE will pay tribute to AJ Styles in his home state of Georgia on the February 23 episode of Raw.

In the same interview Fatu revealed that he had 11 teeth pulled out during his absence from WWE TV in late 2025 – click here for full details.

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