AJ Styles has shed light on his decision to conclude his WWE career at the Royal Rumble rather than waiting for WrestleMania 42.
The “Phenomenal One” officially bid farewell to the ring on January 31, 2026, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after losing a career-ending match to Gunther. While many expected the veteran to retire on the grandest stage of them all, a new farewell vlog uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel features Styles explaining the emotional and logical reasoning behind his choice.
In the vlog, captured moments before he clashed with Gunther, Styles admitted that while a WrestleMania retirement is the dream for most performers, it didn’t align with his personal journey following a serious injury.
Injury fears pushed AJ Styles to retire at Royal Rumble
Styles had been sidelined since October 2024 with a foot injury that many believed would end his career prematurely. After fighting his way back to health, he felt that returning for a short two-month stint just to reach WrestleMania would be bad for his legacy.
“Everybody wants to retire at WrestleMania, the biggest show of the year that we do. I was going to do exactly that, but I just came back from an injury that was supposed to retire me. It retires most. Once I got healed up and was comfortable enough running and doing what I need to do to be AJ Styles, it just didn’t feel right to come back for two months just to retire,” Styles said.
For Styles, the Royal Rumble held a personal significance as the site of his 2016 WWE debut. He viewed the Riyadh event as a chance to bring his WWE tenure full circle. His goal for the night was to leave on his own terms, expressing a hope to walk out of the arena under his own power after one final salute to the fans.
“It didn’t seem right, and I thought, what a way to be able to leave on the pay-per-view where you debuted. Hopefully, at the end of this match, I stand up on my own two feet, and I throw up the P1 that is on my gloves one more time, and I walk,” he added.
The match with Gunther ended with Styles passing out to a sleeper hold, officially ending his full-time career. His comments should also put to rest recent speculation that he could make the jump to AEW with his WWE contract expiring soon.
