Backstage news regarding John Cena vs. AJ Styles being booked for WWE Crown Jewel 2025
John Cena vs. AJ Styles will be taking place at the 2025 Crown Jewel PLE. Cena made a public request for the match on Twitter/X and Styles responded by saying he was ready. After that, Paul “Triple H” Levesque officially confirmed the match.
According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com, Cena vs. Styles was always planned for Crown Jewel despite the social media comments. Meltzer noted that “the reason it was done this way was to make the fans feel that their voice was heard and they were responsible for a match taking place that ‘wasn’t planned,’ and also with Cena running low on dates, he was not scheduled for any television building this show so they couldn’t do a televised angle.”
At Clash in Paris, Cena paid tribute to Styles by using the Styles Clash. After the match, Cena stated the following…
“I will say that I’ve had a lot of opponents over the years, and with eight appearances left, I know I’m not gonna be able to wrestle everybody who was influential in my career, but I think you saw tonight, the best way I can say thank you to some of those people who affected my career is to kind of pay homage.”
Cena’s remarks and use of the move were reportedly part of the storyline, with the idea being to create demand for the match by making fans think they wouldn’t get it.
John Cena insinuates that AJ Styles will not be one of his final opponents, and that is why he paid homage to him by doing a Styles Clash tonight.#WWEClash
— WrestlePurists (@WrestlePurists) August 31, 2025