At WWE Royal Rumble 2026, AJ Styles wrestled his final in-ring match against GUNTHER. The Phenomenal One lost and retired because he put his career on the line for this contest.
In a recent episode of “The AJ Styles Show,” Styles claimed that retirement has been difficult for him. On some days, Styles feels like getting back in the ring, and other days he’s glad he’s done. The WWE Hall of Famer said,
“I’ve lied before, but as far as I know, I didn’t mean to lie. In a perfect world, it is on television when I come back to wrestle with my son or sons, in a perfect world. As of right now, there’s no bug up my butt trying to get me in the ring. Some days I feel good and I go, ‘Freak, I could wrestle right now.’ Then there’s some days I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so glad I’m done.’”
“I don’t mean to be like that. It’s a little harder than I thought it was going to be. I wish I could wrestle forever, but my brain says, ‘Yeah, we can.’ My body’s like, ‘Dude, we’re dying.’ Reality is I’m halfway dead. I’m more than halfway dead. I’m 49. The reality of living to a hundred is not going to happen. So yeah, I’m more than halfway dead.”
Female WWE Veteran Wants Styles To Come Out Of Retirement
Speaking on the “Busted Open Radio” podcast, Nattie stated that she wants AJ Styles to come out of retirement. The former WWE Divas Champion said,
“I watched AJ Styles’ son wrestle during SummerSlam week. I went before SummerSlam on Saturday to the GCW show because one of my Dungeon students, who was having the match with Avery Styles, AJ’s son, was Marcus Mathers. He’s also part of the ID program.”
“When I was watching AJ’s son wrestle, Marcus and him were both amazing. For where their experience is at, they both did awesome. After watching Avery Styles wrestle, I was like, ‘Man, I kind of want to see Avery and AJ do a tag.’ Again, I guess that’s a lofty, crazy thing to say, but if there was ever a moment that AJ would or could come out of retirement, I could see it being to team with his son.”
“When Avery was wrestling, I couldn’t take my eyes off him because he had this presence about him. He had this calm, cool, collected confidence where he wasn’t trying too hard, but you knew there was a dog in this kid. He had mannerisms like his dad, but he was still his own person.”
