At the 2026 Royal Rumble, AJ Styles officially had his final match, and has even been announced for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame Class. However, despite recently leaving his gloves and jacket in the ring, Bully Ray isn’t convinced that Styles is fully retired.
“He didn’t definitively say anything,” Bully said during an episode of “Busted Open Radio,” referring to Styles’ “WWE Raw” appearance earlier this month in his home state of Georgia. “I still stand by what I said a couple of weeks ago: I do not think AJ Styles has wrestled his last match. … There’s no way in hell that AJ styles is done-done.”
Bully also shared his belief that Styles leaving his gloves in the ring in Atlanta was not something planned before his final match at the Royal Rumble. “They needed to do that because there were too many conversations going on there as to what could be next for AJ,” Bully expressed, suggesting that everyone wants more of Styles.
Bully Ray believes that WWE has provided AJ Styles with an option to return whenever he wants to
To further drive his point home, Bully proclaimed that there’s still a lot of business to be done with AJ Styles, but it may be in TNA or elsewhere. “I think the WWE, while AJ was still under contract, said, ‘We need to do this show and we need to put – we need to close the door on AJ as much as we can possibly close the door,” he said. “Maybe even behind the scenes, they’re like, ‘Listen, if you ever get the itch to go someplace else, please call us first.'”
Bully then added that he thinks Styles last television appearance was something WWE pushed for, and that if the “Phenomenal One” truly wanted to retire, he could’ve just left his gloves in the ring at the Royal Rumble instead. “He made it a point last night to go right to the question. Everybody’s saying ‘why?’ He needed to – they needed to put a period or an exclamation point,” he explained, again sharing his belief that Styles doubted whether he was done back at the Rumble. “So, he left his vest, and he leaves his gloves, and his WWE career is over – without a doubt.”
While he finally concluded that Styles’ time in WWE could be done, Bully believes there might be a final run elsewhere, since he simply isn’t synonymous with the WWE. “So AJ can go have a final match in TNA, he can go and have a final match in Japan, and then maybe a fantasy match.” Bully proposed that he’d love to see Will Ospreay and Styles in a rivalry someday, and it wouldn’t even need a storyline behind it.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Busted Open Radio” and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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