Dragon Lee says AJ Styles gave him the green light to use the Styles Clash, and that the move was never something he picked for himself. In a recent interview with Joey Karni, Lee said he first asked Styles and got a blunt answer: “You’re my brother, do it.”
Lee framed the exchange as more than permission. He said taking Styles’ finisher was an honor and a sign that he had earned respect in the locker room and from legends such as Rey Mysterio and Styles. “Just imagine how is my life, man,” Lee said of working alongside Styles, adding that every chance he got came because he gave 100% in the ring and people noticed.
The comments come with extra weight because Lee and Styles were brief tag team partners in 2025, when they won the World Tag Team Championship and held it for 70 days before losing the belts to The Usos. Their run was short, but it put Lee alongside one of WWE’s biggest names and gave him a title reign that now sits at the center of his story.
There is also a sharper edge to the timing. Styles retired from WWE at the 2026 Royal Rumble PLE and is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame later tonight, which turns Lee’s tribute into something more than a passing anecdote. It reads like a wrestler looking back at a partnership that mattered, and at a move he says he used only because a veteran he respected asked him to.
That detail matters because the Styles Clash is identified with AJ Styles, not with Lee. By saying he asked first and was told “You’re my brother, do it,” Lee drew a line between imitation and permission, presenting his use of the move as a gesture of respect rather than an attempt to borrow status. In a business built on image as much as outcome, that distinction is the story.
