Add as a preferred source on Google Following the wave of controversy surrounding fan harassment at the WWE hotel during WrestleMania 42 weekend in Las Vegas, AJ Styles revealed just how chaotic things really were backstage.
According to the veteran himself, during Phenomenally Retro, fans swarmed him “like bees” at the MGM Grand Hotel, completely ignoring boundaries. The “Phenomenal One” said that even after turning down photo requests because he was exhausted, one fan kept following him for autographs and interactions.
“Look, there’s something fans need to understand: even when we’re walking through the hotel to get to our room, we’re not hanging out. We just want to get to our room. We spend the whole day in autograph sessions, and it’s tiring because we try to stay upbeat for you — especially for those who paid to see us. We want it to be worth it, but it’s draining. I know some people think, ‘What do you guys even do? You just stand there.’ But we do that for hours, you know?”
“And I don’t think anyone was being rude on purpose. For example, I don’t take pictures because if I start, I won’t stop. If I’m with my family, I can’t. Even so, I said, ‘Look, I’m not taking photos right now, sorry,’ and they still came at me like bees. There was even one guy who, even after I told him ‘I can’t take photos,’ kept walking next to me, leaning on me and insisting. I was like, ‘Whoa, hold on.’ In the end, security was able to find me and get me to the elevator.”
As we previously reported, what happened at the MGM Grand Hotel caused major frustration within TKO due to the lack of adequate security for the event. Other top names in the company went through highly invasive situations that same week, including Booker T, who reported being filmed by a fan while using the bathroom.