Because that worked so well with AJ/Nakamura.
So it is true in one case ergo it is true in every case? That's a silly way of thinking. In fact, I remember when Ben Affleck was cast as Batman and plenty of people said that those opposed to the casting forget that no one wanted Heath Ledger to play the Joker but he ended up being perfect in the role. So they assumed that automatically applied to Ben Affleck simply because the situation was similar. That was silly thinking. Whether something works or doesn't work in one situation, doesn't guarantee it will do the same in similar situations.
Even in their NJPW match, I don't feel that AJ and Nakamura have chemistry. Joe and AJ have a long history and chemistry.
You can't determine how something is going to work between two people simply because it didn't work with others.