AJ Styles Reveals Surprising Pick for Best WrestleMania Match of His Career

AJ Styles is looking back at his incredible professional wrestling career—and he’s making it clear which WrestleMania match stands above the rest.

While speaking on The Phenomenally Retro Podcast, Styles was asked to reflect on the standout matches he’d tell future generations about. And while he ran through a long list of classics, the real update came when he singled out what he considers his best WrestleMania performance.

Before getting there, the Phenomenal One first looked back on some of the most celebrated matches of his career, pointing to moments across multiple opponents that fans still talk about today.

“Well, you know, me and Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe at Unbreakable—that’s another match that people love. And me and Chris Jericho, and me and Jerry Lynn—we all had great matches. I could pick out those matches from any one of those guys, Samoa Joe. Like, I could pick them out—it’s easy to pick out those matches.”

He then shifted toward his WWE run, putting focus on his rivalry with Roman Reigns, which is something that some might not immediately expect to be among his best

“And then, you know, some of the great matches that I think I’ve had—like you talk about—me and Roman Reigns had some great matches. I don’t know if a lot of people would expect that.”

But the biggest takeaway came when Styles directly answered the WrestleMania question—and made it clear which match stands above the rest in his mind, which turned out to be his WrestleMania 33 match against Shane McMahon. He didn’t just name the match—he explained why it worked, pointing to the preparation, attention to detail, and chemistry between him and Shane McMahon heading into the show.

“Here’s another thing—the best WrestleMania match I had was against Shane McMahon. Yep, it was. You’ve got Shane, who is a perfectionist—he wants it perfect—and man, I get that. We just so happened to be able to place things where they should be in the storyline we had going into it, and it made it a perfect match.”

At the end of the day, when Styles looks back at WrestleMania, it’s not just about the opponent—it’s about how everything came together, and in his eyes, nothing topped that match with Shane McMahon.

Do you agree with AJ Styles that his match with Shane McMahon was his best WrestleMania performance, or would you pick a different one? Let us know your thoughts.

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