AJ Styles has explained the behind-the-scenes reasons his in-ring career stretched past its original finish line, pointing to a foot injury and a round of contract talks that kept him going longer than he first intended.
Speaking on the Insight podcast, the WWE Hall of Famer also refused to slam the door completely on wrestling one more time.
Styles retired at the 2026 Royal Rumble, dropping a career-threatening match to World Heavyweight Champion Gunther after putting his run on the line. But he revealed that the Rumble was never the original target.
Why The Retirement Date Moved
Styles said his first plan was to walk away around WrestleMania 41, but a foot injury and his own health left the timing feeling wrong. Once he recovered, money entered the conversation, though not in the way fans might assume.
Well, I was gonna retire before the Royal Rumble at WrestleMania [41], but I just come back from my foot injury, and it just didn’t seem right. I was feeling kind of good, actually. Once I got my foot back in order, I was like, man. I’m sure money was a thing, because I didn’t ask for more money, I just wanted to extend it,” Styles said.
But then again, they did right by me, paying me well, and so I know that was an issue, but then we finally got that in order, and I was like, all right, here we go. I’m not saying I didn’t get weird near the end of knowing I was going to retire or leave WWE; I got weird, dude.
Never Say Never On One More Match
Now that he is on the other side of it, Styles admitted the physical grind is the part he does not miss. The adrenaline of walking through the curtain, though, is harder to replace.
I don’t miss falling down, I don’t miss getting hurt, I don’t miss any of that, but you’re always going to miss that part of the excitement that you’re about to go to the ring anmd have a great match,” he said.
You’re going to miss that, that’s just the high you don’t get from anything else. But again, I get to go down the Performance Center and scratch that itch and just throw myself into helping these performers down at the PC get better.
That coaching role at the WWE Performance Center lines up with plans Styles laid out well before his farewell, when he indicated he wanted to move into training talent once his ring career ended. He has also talked about his son as the one scenario that could genuinely pull him back.
Styles has been careful not to promise a comeback, but he is not ruling one out either.
Usually we’re granted one comeback for one match. I’m not saying it’s gonna happen. I’m just saying usually it’s granted. Never say never,” Styles said.
Styles closed the book on a legendary career on the February 23, 2026 episode of Raw, leaving his gloves and jacket in the ring before The Undertaker confirmed his Hall of Fame induction.
For more on how he has processed the emotional side of stepping away, see his comments that his in-ring character no longer exists, as well as his work coaching his son to not wrestle like him.
