WWE Hall of Famer ‘Road Dogg’ Jesse James has said that the 2018 feud between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura was catered toward online fans.
After winning the 2018 Men’s Royal Rumble match, Nakamura challenged Styles (the WWE Champion at the time) at WrestleMania 34.
Given the classic the two men had at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10 two years prior, the WrestleMania match had a lot of hype surrounding it, and many felt at the time that it didn’t reach expectations.
On his “Oh You Didn’t Know” podcast, James, who was part of the SmackDown writing team at the time, addressed the booking of the match. He said,
“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 from 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.”
Styles retained his title against Nakamura, who would turn heel after the match, setting up future title matches that would see AJ retain his title.
