When his WWE feud with AJ Styles began, John Cena had a difficult time coming up with a storyline reason to explain why they were feuding.
Cena made an appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast this week to discuss the impending end of his WWE career. Looking back at his run, Cena said he loved finding anecdotes to explain why his character did not like his opponents. He would look for shots rivals had taken at him in interviews or anything like that. But because Styles is “such a good guy,” Cena could not find any material.
“I never ask, ‘How can I look good?’ When I sit down with an opponent, I love anecdotes. The first time I ever worked with AJ Styles — he is the nicest human being in sports entertainment,” Cena said. “And I always have some sort of, I can find some energy of, like, ‘You said this about me in an interview once’ or ‘Man, I don’t like the way you work’ or whatever. AJ’s such a good guy. And I sat down and I’m like, ‘Man, this is going to be okay. Why are we fighting?’ It’s like, ‘What do you mean? Why are we fighting? I want to be the champ.’ That’s not good enough. ‘Take a second to yourself, figure out why we’re fighting.’ I went on my bus, scoured the web to try to find out anything this guy’s ever said. Just anything, a sentence. Never speaks bad about anybody.”
Cena credited Styles for finally coming up with a story idea that would work. Styles said that — as a character — he would feel like he deserved to be in the top spot Cena had for so many years because he is a better in-ring wrestler than Cena is.
“So then I came back to him and literally after two and a half hours, he was finally like, ‘Okay, this is AJ, this isn’t Allen. But maybe AJ’s thinking that if you were never around, I would be where you’re at and I’d be so much better. Because when in that ring, I am better.’ I’m like, ‘We got it,’” Cena said.
“And we built our story, culminating with even the match at the Royal Rumble, with — ‘I, AJ, am a better in-ring performer. You are charismatic, but hella lucky. You put these two in a ring together and I will run circles around you every time.’ And that’s where [Cena fans] are like, ‘Hell no, that’s my guy.’ Anybody that watched TNA would be like, ‘Our guy is finally getting a shot. This dude’s awesome. Wait until he can do his stuff.’ And now you’re divided and now you’re interested. And that’s an issue that you can run with. But you have to sit and ask, ‘Why are we fighting?’”
On his retirement tour, Cena got to face off against Styles one final time with a victory at Crown Jewel: Perth. Cena now only has one last WWE date before his in-ring career ends. He will face off against either Gunther or LA Knight at Saturday Night’s Main Event on December 13.
Styles himself does not have much time left in the ring. Styles has announced that he will be retiring in 2026 but has not set a date for when his final match will happen.
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Joseph Currier
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated’s wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.
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