Top WWE Star To Work NOAH Event

This former WWE Champion will face Naomichi Marufuji for NOAH next month.

by Andrew Pollard
Pro Wrestling NOAH Destination Naomichi Marufuji AJ Styles
Pro Wrestling NOAH

Fresh off losing to Cody Rhodes at WWE Clash at the Castle yesterday, many have pondered what's next for AJ Styles. While it remains to be seen how things play out for the Phenomenal One on WWE programming from here, Styles has now been confirmed to be competing at Pro Wrestling NOAH's Destination show next month.

NOAH took to X to announce that Styles will be facing Naomichi Marufuji at Destination on 13 July in what should be an excellent match, with a short video clip from AJ promising to tear the house down at Nippon Budokan in what is a first-time-ever bout between two of the very best of their generation. This will also be the first time that Styles has worked for NOAH.

Last week saw NOAH tease a joint announcement from them and WWE for today, and we now know it'll be the continuation of the loose working relationship between the two promotions; a relationship NOAH has previously said it was looking to strengthen. Of course, WWE allowed Shinsuke Nakamura to work for NOAH against the Great Muta as part of Muta's retirement tour back on 1 January 2023.

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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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.