AJ Styles has admitted he would have happily lost to Shawn Michaels if it meant getting the opportunity to share the ring with the WWE Hall of Famer.
Speaking on his Phenomenally Retro podcast, AJ Styles reflected on one of wrestling’s biggest dream matches that never happened. Responding to a fan comment, the former WWE Champion said the timing of their careers ultimately prevented the bout from becoming a reality.
“So, I don’t know how much older Shawn is than I am. But if that ever happened, I would probably have been in my forties. So let’s say, again, I don’t know how much older Shawn is than me, but like, who wins? Who does it benefit?
“Now me, I would have taken the pin all day long to be able to be in the ring with Shawn Michaels. I don’t care, because it wasn’t about that for me. It was about being in there and going, ‘Wow.’ And just kind of the same thing with The Undertaker. It’s like, ‘Man, the matches that we could have had had I just gotten here sooner.’ Because of the timing, the way you gel together. I’m assuming, I could be wrong, but Shawn and I would have had that same kind of feeling when we got in the ring together. Like, our timing would have been the same. Everything would have made sense. We’ll never know.”
AJ Styles Discussed His Relationship With Shawn Michaels
AJ Styles also spoke about the relationship he has developed with Shawn Michaels through visits to the WWE Performance Center, revealing that the two have shared conversations that helped him better understand the Hall of Famer.
“I can tell you this. Just going down to the Performance Center and talking with Shawn, I feel like I understand him. I get what he’s saying in certain things that he said. And there are some things that I have shared with him that I would never share with anybody else, ever. And you’ll never know about it. But there’s something about some of the things he says. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I understand that,’ that maybe not all people would.”
Styles never faced Michaels during his WWE career, with the two stars’ in-ring careers overlapping only briefly after Styles joined the company in 2016, several years after Michaels’ retirement from full-time competition.
