AJ Styles Explains Why He Was Relieved to Lose WWE Championship To Bryan Danielson
AJ Styles explains why he was relieved to lose the WWE Championship to Bryan Danielson.
Over the course of his WWE career, AJ Styles won the WWE Championship twice. His first reign ended in 140 days, whereas his other reign lasted over a year, at 371 days. He was eventually defeated by Bryan Danielson during his second reign.
Speaking on The Phenomenally Retro Podcast, Styles and Tony Giles were discussing shorter and longer title reigns in WWE. They agreed that being the champion for around a year is a good amount of time.
Styles then shared his experience and said being a World Champion for a year was exhausting.
“I can speak from experience. Being a champion for a year is exhausting. It is because I feel like they’re saying, ‘Hey man, we’re counting on you to put butts in seats.’ So you go out there every week to put on unbelievable matches, do the media, and everything that goes around with that. It’s exhausting. It can get you. So I remember getting beaten by Daniel Bryan, going, ‘Thank God.’ I was exhausted. The biggest weight was lifted off my shoulders because I felt like I had the most important job when it came to SmackDown. It was to put on the show every time and be on everything I possibly could. It’s a lot.”
He then explained the hardest part about being a champion.
“Well, you got to know, especially back then, we were on the road doing live events three days a week. Plus, then you have SmackDown, which was a blessing because that’s only four days, where when I started, it was five days in a row. So having that extra day to come home and just try to relax, that was nice. But four days on the road, again, that’s a lot. You’re bumping almost four days, and you’re not holding anything back. I’ve always told my wife, I was like, ‘I got one year. It’s all or nothing.’ So it didn’t matter how many people were there at the live events, I was still going to be AJ Styles. So that can get to be a lot, especially if you’re doing it for a year. Very seldom do you get a tag match, and why would you? You’re the heavyweight champion. Your job is to [inaudible]… So your body is just getting beat up and it’s exhausted because of that kind of stuff. You’re like, ‘Oh yeah, you can be a smart wrestler and do that.’ We tried. But again, I’m still springboarding. I’m still doing that stuff, trying to have great matches.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Styles said he wants to see LA Knight become a World Champion. Fans can read his comments here.
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