Last month at the WWE Royal Rumble, AJ Styles officially retired from in-ring competition after losing his career-threatening match to GUNTHER. “The Phenomenal One” has since revealed that it was his choice go out at the event where he made his debut for the company, and he shared that he didn’t want to hang up his boots at WrestleMania.
Styles revealed earlier this week that he initially planned on retiring at WrestleMania 41 against Logan Paul, but during the latest edition of “Raw Recap,” he claimed that WWE’s biggest event has lost some of its magic and didn’t feel that a feud against the YouTube sensation would’ve been the proper sendoff.
“It was coming back from an injury to WrestleMania to a match that didn’t, to me, have much build and WrestleMania, listen, I’m sorry to say, used to be the most prestigious PLE or pay-per-view, whatever you wanna call it. But to me, it’s kind of lost its luster a little bit. But as far as the Royal Rumble, that’s special to me, because that’s where I made my debut. So to be able to end where I started, it’s poetic.”
During Styles’ tribute show this past Monday on “WWE Raw,” he was informed by The Undertaker that he would be inducted into the 2026 WWE Hall Of Fame. So far, Styles and Stephanie McMahon are the only two names announced for this year’s class.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “WWE” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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