AJ Styles On Why His WrestleMania Match With Shinsuke Nakamura Didn’t Live Up To The Hype

AJ Styles has accomplished a lot since joining WWE, and he quickly became one of the top stars in the company after his debut at the Royal Rumble in 2016.

Styles went on to capture the WWE Championship twice, and at WrestleMania 34 he defended the belt against Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura.

There was a lot of hype leading up to the match, but when it was all said and done thew WWE Championship match was hardly one of the most talked about bouts from the show.

AJ Styles recently appeared on the After The Bell podcast and said that he thinks expectations were too high going into the match.

“Expectations are way too high. I know Nakamura [thought so] too because no matter what we would have done in that match, the expectations were way too high. Here’s what a lot of people don’t understand. Crowd, fans, the WWE Universe, New Japan and all that stuff, their fans are everything. They’re everything. They set the tone on what is a great match.

“It’s how they respond to it, and in Japan, they’re so respectful. When they do respond, it’s huge. Wow, this is such an amazing match, but had that same match been done in a WWE ring without the same response, it’s not going to be declared as that great of a match. Fans are everything. They dictate a great match. It’s just the reality and the truth of the whole thing, and a lot of people don’t understand. The expectations, they were so high because what we did at Wrestle Kingdom. I was like, ‘oh man.’ I still think it was a great match.”

What was your reaction to AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania 34? Sound off in the comments below.

\https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez2j3aVcTqk

H/T Wrestling Inc.