AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura has been one of the premier matches in the wrestling world over the years, and we may have seen the matchup for the final time at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event. This match was a lot of fun and showed two incredible talents that still have a lot in the tank. Let’s take a closer look at what happened and what it means going forward.
AJ Styles Wins Before Match with Gunther
AJ Styles has been one of the top wrestlers of the 21st century and could see his career end in one week’s time. Before that happens, Shinsuke Nakamura wanted to wrestle him one more time at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event. This matchup saw Styles enter wearing a mask during his entrance, which was a nod to his New Japan Pro Wrestling days.
The match was a lot of fun and saw Styles target the knee of Nakamura with multiple dragon screws as well as calf crushers. However, Nakamura would be able to avoid the match ending that way, but suffered the consequences as he would favor his knee throughout the match.
Styles would win with a Phenomenal Forearm before hitting a Styles Clash and the two would embrace, similar to their embrace in NJPW. This could be the penultimate match of AJ Styles’ career, as he faces Gunther at the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble with his career on the line.
This match also showed that when it comes time to being in a big match, Nakamura is more than capable of putting on his working boots. It will be intriguing to see if this is the second-to-last match that AJ Styles has in his legendary career.
