Why WWE Booked AJ Styles Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura At WrestleMania Revealed

A dream match took place at 2018's WrestleMania 34 as AJ Styles defended the WWE Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in one of the pay-per-view's headline bouts. Nakamura vs. Styles was much hyped ahead of the show and ultimately ended up underwhelming many fans.

"Road Dogg" Brian James, who was a part of SmackDown creative at the time, spoke about the decision to book Styles vs. Nakamura at WrestleMania and the WWE Hall of Famer revealed WWE did so simply to give the fans what they wanted.

"We felt like we were listening to the international wrestling community. A lot of people think differently about that match than I did. Like, I thought it was a good match. But, I think I've seen matches of theirs in Japan where it was just a different crowd and a different reaction to things, and I've seen them have better matches in Japan...It was all about giving the IWC, you know, that's just the truth of it, it was about giving them what they wanted and it was also good business," Brian James said on his Oh...You Didn't Know podcast.

Styles would win the WrestleMania 34 match to retain his WWE Title before Nakamura turned heel with a low blow to The Phenomenal One following the contest. Styles and Nakamura would continue to feud following the event until Styles emerged victorious in a Last Man Standing Match a few months later.

The widely-held belief is that Styles and Nakamura had a far superior match in New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom 10.

H/T to Wrestling Inc.