It’s hard telling what’s going to be next for AJ Styles after Royal Rumble but for now, his WWE career has come to a close. He lost to GUNTHER in a career-threatening match in Saudi Arabia and while he didn’t actually leave his gloves in the ring like he teased doing, a symbolic gesture of closure, it would appear he’s reached the end of the road.
The word from Triple H on the post show was that WWE expected this to happen later in 2026 but Styles simply decided he was done with the actual in-ring
part of the job:
“Obviously, we expected it later in the year. We had a lot of conversations about it. AJ is one of those people that absolutely wants to give back and be a part of this business. I don’t want to speak for him but the conversations that he had with me, he made it very clear that he was just done with the in-ring. There’s a point where you just reach in your career where you say ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ And when your heart goes, no matter how good you are, he hasn’t lost a step…but when you say ‘I’m just at a place where I don’t want to do this anymore,’ it’s time before you get hurt, before you get told you’re not allowed to do this anymore. I think he was there.”
Triple H would also say he hopes Styles will contribute in a non-wrestling capacity, comparing him to Shawn Michaels, who went from being a top talent to the guy who runs NXT. For his part, the man himself has yet to comment, leaving us all to speculate on whether or not this is truly the end for him as far as working matches is concerned.
If so, perhaps a different job with WWE awaits.
Think so?
