AJ Styles Says John Cena “Wouldn’t Last Two Seconds” In The Indies

AJ Styles was a guest on Talking Smack last night, still sore from the verbal lashing he received earlier that night from John Cena in an in-ring promo battle. You can watch that segment from SmackDown in the above.

During it, John Cena dropped this hot take in AJ's lap:

"Here’s a spoiler, I wasn’t built for the indie scene, I was built for WWE. I get more done in a day than you do in a career, and I never talk about how many critics I got, I just earn every day, and shut every mouth. You upset about a poster? Photoshop yourself over me. You’re not a guy from Atlanta. You’re just a guy. You’re just a guy holding onto that championship because I let you. And you so unoriginal. You’re just like every other guy before you, who hates me so very much, but who does everything they can to be me, Mr. Face That Runs The Place. And you also just the guy who on Sunday, is gonna find out what everybody already knows. There’s only one John Cena, and I’m still a bad, bad, man. And my time, is NOW. Recognize."

And with that Cena dropped the mic and left the ring.

Styles had some time to stew about this and when he got to the Talking Smack desk, he presented an alternate viewpoint on the situation:

"(John Cena) couldn't have made it in the indies. … Because he can't hang with guys like me. That's why.  know everything there is about performing in a ring. You name every style, I can get out there and I can do it. John Cena – he cannot. John Cena's strong, he's got a great mind for that ring, but there's more to it than that. John Cena wouldn't last two seconds in an independent ring."

Styles says Cena isn't as good a wrestler as he is because Styles had to fight and scratch and claw for everything he's got and Cena had it handed to him. Cena seems to be saying he's better than Styles precisely because he didn't have to fight for anything. He must be better. They wouldn't have handed it to him if he didn't deserve it, right?

We'll see what happens when these two meet in the ring for something a little more hard hitting than a promo battle, this Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Fightful.com will have full, live coverage, a stat tracker, and reporters on the scene for the event.