John Cena and AJ Styles squaring off in a professional wrestling ring was a dream for the fans. Thankfully, that became reality and WWE did bring the very best out of the two veterans via a stretched feud before Cena went Hollywood.
The matches they produced could be hailed as some of the best of the past decade and their storyline also seemed great from a pro-wrestling perspective.
Both these two men seemed to have enjoyed their program a lot that produced 5-star rated matches every time they stepped together in a ring. But WWE Universe could hardly believe this would happen as AJ Styles was the king of the independent wrestling scene whereas John Cena was the marquee in the WWE for over a decade. But WWE signed Styles to a deal in 2016 who was up to #BeatUpJohnCena upon main roster debut.
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An interesting theory was believed that WWE was better off without the Phenomenal One in it. On a recent episode of the ARN Podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and former WWE Producer Arn Anderson disclosed that John Cena was against the theory of signing of former TNA Superstars like James Storm, Bobby Roode, and AJ Styles, one of the top rivals of his WWE career.
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John Cena allegedly stated Anderson that WWE has their developmental known as NXT. So they make their own stars, and hence they didn’t need any outsider veterans to come along to the biggest pro-wrestling brand,
“It was at a point when TNA was doing well. I would watch there, sitting with Cena one afternoon, and I said, ‘It would really beef up the company if we went out and stole Bobby Roode, AJ Styles, and ‘The Cowboy’ James Storm. If you brought those 3 guys in it would give you a whole plethora of new opponents, it would give a lot of guys new opponents.’ John looked at me and said, ‘We’ve got NXT, we make our own stars.”
Anderson also pointed out how John Cena was voicing Vince McMahon’s mind. He believed that all these men would end up becoming tough opponents for the sixteen-time world champion who was carrying the load in WWE for a long time.
“I’m sure he was just transferring Vince’s psychology to me when he said that, but I knew at that time what those guys could do in a match for John. If you just gave them 6-9 months to come in and get over – these guys had their experience, they were ready. You could bring them on day one and you have a player. They were all on my radar for a while before they ever made it.” (courtesy wrestlingINC.com)
Vince McMahon wasn’t impressed with AJ Styles when he first arrived in the WWE and he wanted the indie scene guy to prove his potential in the big league. But things really changed within a few months.
The Phenomenal One lived up to his gimmick by beating John Cena and thereby became a multi-time World Champion. More importantly, he also got to be the Undertaker’s last opponent at the infamous Boneyard Match from WrestleMania 36.
