Shortly after, Styles started a feud with Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura. At WrestleMania 34 on April 8, Styles defeated Nakamura to retain the WWE Championship, and after the match, Styles was subjected to a classless assault by Nakamura, heating up their feud. Styles would go on to retain his title against Nakamura on three different events: Greatest Royal Rumble by double countout, Backlash in a no disqualification match, that ended in a no contest, and Money in the Bank, where Styles ended the feud after winning a Last Man Standing match. After a successful defense against Rusev at Extreme Rules in July, Styles became the longest-reigning WWE Champion in SmackDown history on August 14, surpassing the 280-day record set by John "Bradshaw" Layfield. On the July 24 episode of "SmackDown", Styles started a feud with Samoa Joe, after he was attacked by Joe. Styles retained the title at SummerSlam, despite losing via disqualification. Styles' and Joe's rivalry continued following SummerSlam over Styles' wife, Wendy, where Joe claimed he would defeat Styles and become the "new daddy", leading to a rematch at Hell in a Cell, where Styles defeated Joe in controversial fashion to retain the title; Styles submitted to Joe during a roll-up, however, the referee did not see the submission and counted the pin allowing Styles to retain the title. Styles defeated Joe two more times at Super Show-Down by submission and Crown Jewel.