Add as a preferred source on Google AJ Styles defended Ludwig Kaiser following the wrestler’s recent arrest in Florida, which involved a battery allegation at a residential building in Orlando.
On a recent edition of Phenomenally Retro, Styles said he knows Kaiser very well and does not fully believe the account given by the alleged victim in the case.
“I can give my two cents on this. How can I put this? Listen, I know Kaiser well, very well. And if something were said that pissed him off enough to fight with someone? They deserved it. That’s all I’m going to — I can’t speak on what exactly happened but come on. We’re not stupid. This guy wouldn’t risk going to jail over something as petty as, ‘Oh, I wish you would mind your manners.’ Shut the freak up. I don’t believe that, not for one second.
“And besides, man the freak up and just sit there while you get to your little room, if it was in the elevator. I’m not sure. That’s the way I understood the story, but just freaking — and get out and mind your own business. Sounds like you’re pretty jealous to me. It’s — again, I don’t know the whole story. If there’s kids in there and they were all over, that’d be different. But I don’t think that’s the case at all… Listen, I’m going to be on my buddy’s side. I believe that this guy probably got was coming to him.”
“He is the definition of a class act. And so, to hear something like this happen, immediately I go, ‘Oh. He must have really been pissed off about something to go like and do something like this.’ And listen, you can say whatever you want about me. It doesn’t bother me; I can take it. But when you say something about my wife or my kids? Bro, it’s going to get it’s going to get violent real fast. My job is to protect them in in any way that I can, and I will show them that that’s my job. I will not let them uh be yelled at or talked to in any certain way that — you got a problem, you can talk to me.”
The incident took place on April 23, but Kaiser, whose real name is Marcel Barthel, did not turn himself in to authorities until May 20 after learning about a warrant while he was in Mexico for work. He was released on $1,000 bond and pleaded not guilty.
Despite the controversy, WWE is not expected to punish Kaiser. Backstage, the expectation is that the case will be resolved without major consequences for his career.
Kaiser is currently in one of the most important stretches of his recent run, performing as El Grande Americano in AAA. Last Saturday at Noche de Los Grandes in Monterrey, he defeated the Original El Grande Americano in a Mask vs. Mask Match, forcing Chad Gable to unmask.