AJ Styles has shared what made Jon Moxley such a memorable opponent in WWE, praising his timing, stamina and ability to stay calm throughout a match.

Speaking on WWE Retrospective, Styles looked back at their WWE Championship clash at Backlash 2016, when Moxley was known as Dean Ambrose. Styles entered the match with plenty of momentum, and their previous encounters had given him confidence they would deliver.

“Well, I definitely was on a roll. I mean, I just got done with the John Cena matches and the freaking... Roman Reigns, with the Usos and the OC. I’m rolling, I’m rolling right here. And the opportunity to wrestle Dean... and we’d had the opportunity to do some live events together and man, he was so good. We had great chemistry as well. So I knew this was going to be a really good match.”

What particularly impressed Styles was how composed Moxley remained. While Styles admitted he could get carried away with the excitement, his opponent kept the same steady approach from start to finish.

“Having the opportunity to be in the ring with him, again, another guy who has perfect timing in everything that we did and is so calm in there. I’ve never met anybody who... I mean, listen, I get overhyped sometimes in my match. Not Dean. He’s the same from the first to the last… He never got tired. I remember being exhausted at the end of this match and I think he just walked by, ‘No problem.’ Got him a cup of water and he was fine.”

The night also brought a defining moment for Styles as he captured the WWE Championship. Reflecting on that achievement, he explained how much it meant to reach a level some people never expected him to reach.

“This is what you work your whole career for. I mean, you’re in the biggest company in the world and you are the heavyweight champion. That is unbelievably huge, especially for somebody like AJ Styles. A lot of people didn’t think that I’d get to this point in my career, and to be able to pull that off is pretty awesome.”