10 Fascinating Facts About WWE In 2018
5. AJ Styles Felt Expectations Were Too High
Wrestling fans were bristling with excitement when WWE announced AJ Styles vs. Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura for 'Mania 34. Overnight, even casual E supporters suddenly became hardcore Japanese wrestling enthusiasts; a lot of folks were talking about AJ vs. Naka from New Japan's Wrestle Kingdom 10 in 2016.
It was a hot topic heading into WrestleMania.
Styles thought that was a problem. He decided to shoot on his own ‘Mania 34 match during a podcast with Corey Graves in 2020. There, AJ said that WWE had set expectation levels for the bout vs. Shinsuke Nakamura “way too high”, and pointed out that their Kingdom classic wouldn’t have worked in a WWE context anyway, because the Japanese crowd elevated it.
The 'Phenomenal' one was clearly disappointed with how things turned out, and felt the pressure of topping what had come before. Both he and Shinsuke realised they'd have to tweak the formula in front of WWE's fanbase, and neither thought they could do that without changing too much from the original.