AJ Styles Says Not Cracking A Smile During His WWE Backlash 2024 Match With Cody Rhodes Was ‘One Of The Hardest Things’ He’s Had To Do In His Career
AJ Styles says that not cracking a smile during a bout with Cody Rhodes was amongst the hardest things he'd done during his career.
AJ Styles says that not cracking a smile during a bout with Cody Rhodes was amongst the hardest things he’d done during his career.
At WWE Backlash 2024, AJ Styles would feature as part of the card, taking on Cody Rhodes with the WWE Championship on the line. Prior to the match, Styles would receive a heroes welcome from the Lyon, France crowd. However, due to AJ’s status as a heel in the bout, he could acknowledge the swell of crowd support and the resultant chants. For Styles, this fits in as one of the hardest moments in his wrestling career.
In a social media quote tweet, AJ Styles would react to a post celebrating the three year anniversary of the Premium Live Event in Lyon, France, noting that it was one of the hardest things in his career not being able to crack a smile.
“I had to do one of the hardest things in my career. Not cracking a smile.”
I had to do one of the hardest things in my career. Not cracking a smile. https://t.co/I3LmGm7r1K
— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) May 4, 2026
In a recent podcast appearance, Styles discussed preferring to work WWE SmackDown over RAW while he was an active pro wrestler. You can read more about that here.
