17 Things We Learned From AJ Styles On Talk Is Jericho

9. Expectations For His Run In Japan

Chris asks if AJ was brought in with the understanding that he would be positioned to strongly at the top of the card and be competing for their top prize. He replies that he didn't know and was a little shocked when it happened, confessing that if it were his company he would probably never have done that with a new guy that early. "What am I saying about my own company if some foreign guy can come in here and win it right away?" Jericho inquires how quickly he won the IWGP title and he says he literally came in, attacked Okada on April 6th, 2014 and won the title from him in their first match on May 3rd. Styles calls the IWGP heavyweight title "for me, at that time the most prestigious title in the world" talking about he was a fan of New Japan always had a great deal of respect for the company. He declares that winning the title was unbelievable. Jericho points out that not too many foreigners have ever won the title, but that most of the ones who did - Brock Lesnar, Scott Norton, Vader - were monsters and Styles is the antithesis of that so the decision to put the belt on him was from a pure entertaining wrestling standpoint.