AJ Styles opens up about why his 371-day WWE Championship reign ended in 2018

WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles has slowly cemented himself as one of the top guys in WWE since his debut in 2016. During his time in the WWE, Styles has faced some of the biggest names in the business including The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, John Cena, Daniel Bryan, and Brock Lesnar.

The people have spoken. @AJStylesOrg vs. @undertaker has been named Rivalry of the Half-Year in #TheBumpyAwards! pic.twitter.com/WCptUnL9LU

— WWE’s The Bump (@WWETheBump) July 29, 2020

During one of his recent Twitch streams, AJ Styles spoke about his 371-day WWE Championship run that ended in 2018. Styles lost the title to Daniel Bryan on an episode of WWE SmackDown. While speaking about his title run, AJ Styles spoke about why his run came to an end. According to the Phenomenal One, higher ups in WWE didn't think a rematch with Brock Lesnar would be as big as the first-ever match between Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar.

I think the reason why you saw that happen was because you already saw Brock Lesnar/AJ Styles and - oh man, I'm just not going to go there... Not you guys, I'm sure you guys would like to have seen the rematch of AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar but [WWE] didn't think anyone else would. H/T: WrestlingINC

It’s time! https://t.co/HG2FViQJn9 now!!! https://t.co/R4lAg8Ao7m

— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) August 7, 2020

AJ Styles reveals why traveling with a WWE title belt can be a hassle

During his Twitch stream, AJ Styles spoke about being Intercontinental Champion and how pleased he is to hold the title. However, he went on to talk about an interesting aspect of being champion that fans may not be aware of - traveling with the title belt. AJ Styles then told a story about what had happened with him during his time in NJPW:

It's great to be the champ. It also sucks to carry that belt all the time with you because you have to take it out at security, and then the next thing you know everybody wants to see it and they want to try it on. I had this one guy, I think I may have been in England when I had a match as IWGP Champion, the New Japan Champion, and they literally unloaded everything in my bag because I had the belt in it. H/T: WrestlingINC

AJ Styles is expected to defend the WWE Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam later this month although no opponent has yet been announced.