WWE News: AJ Styles reveals the reason for his MITB standoff with Nakamura
What's the story?
AJ Styles was a special guest on a recent episode of the Edge and Christian Pod of Awesomeness where he was asked about opponents he would like to face in the current roster. Among the names Styles mentioned was Nakamura, a man he's faced only once in the past. To ensure that this happens again on a bigger stage, he orchestrated a memorable moment at Money in the Bank.
In case you didn't know...
The one encounter that AJ Styles mentioned during the podcast happened at Wrestle Kingdom 10, where Nakamura retained his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Styles, shortly before the former headed to NXT and the latter to the main WWE roster. This match has been heralded as one of the best matches of all time by many fans of the product, even earning 4 & 3/4 stars from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer. AJ had a ploy to ensure this magical encounter happened in WWE too.
The heart of the matter
Styles says this about the face off with Nakamura at Money in the Bank:
'Well not to toot my own horn here, but that was my idea. Because I wanted to show Vince that there's something special here. Something that people wanted to see. So let's wait until we give it to them, and give them something bigger than just you know, a TV match. It was one of those cold chill moments that I got, standing in the middle of the ring looking through the ladder at Nakamura.'
In the interview, Styles alluded to the fact that there are superstars on Raw like Balor and Rollins that he has not faced and are potential dream matches for fans.
What's next?
Nakamura recently pointed to the US Championship held by AJ Styles during an episode of SmackDown Live and expressed his desire to compete for the said championship. We're certain there will be a great match between the two men and when it does happen, it will certainly be off the hook!
Author's take
That was a great piece of thinking, AJ. Styles versus Nakamura is a feud that could attract the hardcore fans as well as the casual fans because of its sheer intensity and the amazing quality of the matches these two men could have. This is a match that can main event Wrestlemania if given a chance, and we certainly think it deserves to happen on such a platform. It'll be like watching two musical maestros in collaboration!