AJ Styles says former WWE rival legitimately put him to sleep during a match
AJ Styles has recalled the time that Samoa Joe choked him out with his Coquina Clutch submission move during a match.
Joe appeared on last week's episode of Ryan Satin’s Out of Character podcast. When discussing the Coquina Clutch, he joked that he enjoyed executing the move on Styles because he likes the smell of his former on-screen rival’s hair.
Styles was the latest guest on Satin’s podcast this week, and the two-time WWE Champion said Joe once legitimately put him to sleep with the submission move.
“I don’t, I don’t, man, I don’t [know what conditioner I use],” Styles joked. “Did he ever tell you when he finally got the Coquina Clutch on me and totally choked me out? I was out. I went to sleep in a match. Thank God it was the finish because I was asleep.”
AJ Styles is not the only WWE Superstar who has been choked out during a match. In 2006, John Cena accidentally put Edge to sleep during their TLC match at the Unforgiven pay-per-view.
AJ Styles feuded with Samoa Joe in WWE in 2018
Samoa Joe and AJ Styles both spent a decade in IMPACT Wrestling before they joined WWE in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
In 2018, the two men were involved in a WWE Championship rivalry on SmackDown. Their first WWE pay-per-view match ended in a disqualification victory for Joe at SummerSlam, so Styles retained the title.
Styles went on to retain the WWE Championship against Joe at Hell in a Cell 2018, Super Show-Down 2018, and Crown Jewel 2018. He also defeated Joe in a Steel Cage match at Starrcade 2018.
Please credit Out of Character and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.