AJ Styles On Why His WrestleMania 34 Match With Shinsuke Nakamura Didn’t Live Up To Expectations

AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are considered to be two of the greatest in-ring performers of the current generation so fans rejoiced when WWE announced a match between the two for WrestleMania 34.

However, the bout between the two wrestling veterans failed to live up to the expectation of the fans and during his recent appearance on the After The Bell podcast, the Phenomenal One explained the reasoning behind it.

Styles first explained that the expectations for their match at the Show Of Shows after their Wrestle Kingdom 10 match were too high and Nakamura also thought the same:

“Expectations are way too high, I know Nakamura [thought so] too because no matter what we would have done in that match, the expectations were way too high.”

AJ then claimed that the crowd is everything. He said the fans set the tone on what is a great match and their match in Japan would have not been declared great in WWE:

“It’s how they respond to it, and in Japan, they’re so respectful. When they do respond, it’s huge. Wow, this is such an amazing match, but had that same match been done in a WWE ring without the same response, it’s not going to be declared as that great of a match.”

Fans are everything. They dictate a great match.” said AJ Styles “It’s just the reality and the truth of the whole thing, and a lot of people don’t understand. The expectations, they were so high because what we did at Wrestle Kingdom. I was like, ‘oh man.’ I still think it was a great match.”

The Former WWE Champion gave the example of the match between The Rock and Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 18, saying that the crowd reaction made it a classic match.

Shinsuke Nakamura challenged AJ Styles for his WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34. Though Styles managed to win this bout after countering a Kinshasa from the Japanese star into a Styles Clash.