Andrew Ravens
Gunther has ended three legendary careers within the past year. Goldberg in July, John Cena in December, and AJ Styles in January. Speaking on WWE Retrospective, Gunther revealed that of the three, retiring Styles carried the most personal weight for him.
“AJ’s kind of different where it’s like, you have the WCW legend Goldberg, then you have the guy that stands for WWE, then you have AJ who’s somewhat more similar to me because he had a great run here, but a lot of the stuff the people love him for happened before WWE.”
Gunther was honest about how much Styles meant to him as a viewer before they ever shared a locker room.
“He’s one of those guys that, the generation of wrestling I came up with, we looked up to guys like AJ Styles. I remember that when he was in New Japan, and we always watched his big matches there, they were fantastic. There was a time when I was really grinding and developing, and there was stuff I would watch. I always had so much respect for AJ’s work.
“It almost kind of felt like, from the wrestler purist heart, that felt almost more important for me than the Cena match. But on screen, being able to rub it in and try and ruin that last run he has was so much fun.”
Gunther elaborates on what made AJ Styles’ retirement different from other recent last matches
Gunther also addressed what made the Styles match work dramatically in a way that the Goldberg and Cena bouts could not fully replicate. With both Goldberg and Cena, the retirement timeline was publicly known heading in, removing a layer of uncertainty from the outcome. Styles was different.
“That’s the beauty of it, because with Goldberg and Cena, everyone knew it was their last match, and I think with AJ, people weren’t too sure it was going to be his last match. A good chunk of them expected AJ to win and carry on with his career, but he went out on his own terms. “
That’s something a lot of wrestlers can’t manage; it’s always best to go at a point where people are still going to miss you, not at a point where people are like, ‘Ah, it was time.’ So, hat off to AJ, great career, fantastic wrestler, but I took it away, what can I do?”
The path to the Styles match began after Gunther’s win over Cena in December, when he bragged publicly about making Cena tap out despite Cena’s longstanding “never give up” motto. An upset Styles confronted him, setting up their Royal Rumble match with Styles’ career on the line. Styles will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this weekend as part of WrestleMania 42 weekend festivities at Dolby Live at Park MGM in Las Vegas on Friday, April 17.
