Last night at Money in the Bank, AJ Styles successfully defended his WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. In the closing moments of the match, Styles kicked Nakamura low before hitting a Phenomenal Forearm which took the challenger through an announce table. Nakamura was unable to make it to his feet in time to meet the referee’s 10-count and Styles was declared the victor.

WWE.com caught up with Styles after the match and spoke to him about the tactics he used last night:



“When the championship’s on the line, it’s my livelihood. I’m not about to let that go no matter what,” Styles said. “Winners find a way and I found one. It may have not been the most respectable but it’s an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth out there and I won.”

AJ Styles WWE Championship Statistics

Styles is currently on his second run with the title. His previous run with the belt began at Backlash 2016 when he defeated Dean Ambrose to become champion. Styles then dropped it 140 days later to John Cena. He won the title for a second time by defeating Jinder Mahal on the November 7th, 2017 Smackdown from Manchester, England. His current reign is at 222 days, the longest since Brock Lesnar held the title for 224 days back in 2014 and the 20th longest of all-time.

Styles recently passed Big Daddy Cool Diesel as having held the title for the 15th most combined days.

WWE Championship
Most Combined Days Spent as Champion

Bruno Sammartino (4,040)
Hulk Hogan (2,185)
Bob Backlund (2,138)
John Cena (1,257)
Pedro Morales (1,027)
Randy Orton (660)
Bret Hart (655)
Triple H (610)
Brock Lesnar (578)
Steve Austin (530)
Randy Savage (520)
CM Punk (463)
Shawn Michaels (396)
The Rock (378)
AJ Styles (362)

WWE Championship
Longest Single Reigns of All-Time

Bruno Sammartino (1963-1971) 2,803 days
Hulk Hogan (1984-1988) 1,474 days
Bob Backlund (1979-1983) 1470 days
Bruno Sammartino (1973-1977) 1,237 days
Pedro Morales (1971-1973) 1,027 days
Bob Backlund (1978-1979) 648 days
CM Punk (2011-2013) 434 days
John Cena (2006-2007) 380 days
Randy Savage (1988-1989) 371 days
Hulk Hogan (1989-1990) 364 days
Billy Graham (1977-1978) 296 days
The Ultimate Warrior (1990-1991) 293 days
Yokozuna (1993) 280 days
JBL (2004-2005) 280 days
John Cena (2005) 280 days
Hulk Hogan (1991) 248 days
Bret Hart (1995) 248 days
Shawn Michaels (1996) 231 days
Brock Lesnar (2014-2015) 224 days
AJ Styles (2017-present) 222+ days