Ranking Every WWE Title Match At WrestleMania Worst To Best

20. WrestleMania 34 - AJ Styles Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

AJ Styles Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Rarely has a WrestleMania match been as hyped by fans in recent years as much as AJ Styles defending the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura at 'Mania 34 - all due to the jaw-droppingly great bout the pair put on at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 back in 2016.

Styles vs. Nakamura on the Grandest Stage of Them All was a really good, solid affair, with AJ somewhat surprisingly retaining. The problem was, the contest didn't get near the outstanding heights of that Wrestle Kingdom meeting.

Here, the Phenomenal One targeted Shinsuke's knee in order to slow him down and take away his greatest weapon. As ever, there was some fantastic selling from Nakamura, and he had several nice comeback spots before a missed Kinshasa allowed AJ to hit the Styles Clash.

Post-match, a miffed Shin hit a low blow which facilitated a heel turn largely based around hitting people in the d*ck.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.