AJ Styles Was Shocked At How Good Top WWE Star Is In The Ring
A.J. Styles will be celebrating his 25th anniversary in professional wrestling in 2023, and over the years he has encountered a skein of challenging competitors. But in an interview with "The Halftime Show," he freely admitted there was one wrestler over the past quarter-century who genuinely surprised him.
"I've had a tough a lot of tough opponents throughout my career," Styles said. "But I will say a guy that surprised me with how good he was in the ring would be John Cena."
Why Cena? Styles pointed out that while Cena is "not known for being a technical mastermind in the ring," he nonetheless provoked Styles to rise to the occasion, resulting in what Styles declared as "some of my better matches against this guy."
Styles acknowledged that Cena's size, the level of his athleticism, and the manner in which he conducted himself worked to his advantage.
"I didn't realize what I was getting myself into," Styles said, adding that Cena is "just good – there's no way to say it. He knows what he's doing. Again, it's just one of those things where you thought, 'I'm the superior wrestler in the ring.' But once you get in there with John Cena, you realize, 'Well, okay, I didn't know that. Let's keep going.' He's pretty good."
Styles and Cena engaged in a series of rivalry matches in 2016 and 2017, including the Royal Rumble in 2017 that Styles previously cited as being one of his proudest wrestling achievements, adding that "I enjoyed working with him."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Halftime Show" with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.