Major WWE News developments continue surrounding AJ Styles after confirmation that his match against GUNTHER carried career-threatening stakes. While many fans assumed the 48-year-old would retire at WrestleMania this April, Styles recently revealed that his original timeline shifted more than once over the past year.
Speaking during a vlog on WWE’s official YouTube channel, Styles explained that he had initially targeted WrestleMania 41 as his farewell. “Everybody wants to retire at WrestleMania, right? The biggest show of the year that we do, and I was gonna do exactly that,” Styles said. However, a serious injury altered that trajectory. “I just came back for an injury that was supposed retire me, cause of the injury, it retires most,” he continued. After rehabbing and regaining confidence in his movement, Styles reconsidered stepping away so quickly.
“Once I got healed up and was comfortable enough running and doing what I needed to do to be AJ Styles, it just didn’t feel right to come back for two months just to retire,” he added. “It didn’t seem right and I thought what a better way to be able to leave on the pay-per-view where you debuted.” That reference points to the Royal Rumble, the event where Styles made his WWE debut a decade ago.
WWE held a tribute to Styles on “WWE Raw” in Atlanta, roughly an hour from his hometown of Gainesville, Georgia. Stars from multiple brands attended.
