AJ Styles reflects on ‘special’ WWE Crown Jewel match against John Cena

AJ Styles believes he and John Cena delivered something special in their final time ever facing each other.

Styles and Cena — who are both approaching the end of their in-ring careers — renewed their rivalry on October 11 at WWE Crown Jewel: Perth. It was their first one-on-one match against each other since 2018, and Styles was happy to get one more opportunity to share the ring with an opponent he trusts so much.

“I’m not sure there is anyone in the ring I trust more than John Cena,” Styles told the Boston Herald. “He’s incredible at understanding what the fans need when they need it. He’s even more incredible with the way he treats people.

“During our match at Crown Jewel, which is the last time we’ll ever wrestle each other, I was in the moment. I embraced and enjoyed it — I mean, it’s hard not to love what you do when you’re having so much fun doing it. People might be surprised to hear this, but for John and myself, it was another match until it was over. Afterward, we were able to reflect on its significance. In the moment, we were doing what we do to entertain people.”

Cena picked up the win at Crown Jewel in what was his final time ever wrestling in Australia. Before the bell rang, there was a special moment where Styles was surprised with a special ring introduction that Cena wrote for him. It included references to Styles’ time in TNA Wrestling and NJPW.

“It definitely caught me off guard,” Styles said about the introduction. “When I heard ‘The definition of Total Nonstop Action,’ I thought to myself, ‘Wait a minute.’ He took this from just being about John to making it about John and AJ Styles. It’s something he didn’t have to do, but that’s John. That’s just who he is.”

Cena only has four more dates on his WWE retirement tour, which will conclude on December 13 at Saturday Night’s Main Event. As for Styles, he plans to retire in 2026 but has not put an exact date on it yet.

“We’ve been doing this for decades, this is what we do,” Styles told the Boston Herald while reflecting on the Cena match. “The greatest part is it meant a lot to a lot of people. We wanted to give wrestling fans something special, and I think we accomplished that.”

Styles won gold on WWE Raw last night, teaming with Dragon Lee to win the World Tag Team titles from Finn Balor & JD McDonagh.