As seen during the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble PLE, AJ Styles lost to Gunther in a career-threatening match. After the event, Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated the following in regards to Styles’ WWE career being over…
“We’ve had a lot of conversations on the off-chance when this all came down. 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.’ When your heart goes, no matter how good you are.
He hasn’t lost a step. But when you just 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. I’m hoping that he will contribute because, again, he’s one of the most influential people in the business.”
Triple H says they expected a full year for Aj Styles 👀
Aj Styles told HHH he is absolutely done with anything in ring for good.#RoyalRumble
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— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) January 31, 2026