AJ Styles Addresses Why He Wanted His Retirement Match at the Royal Rumble Over WrestleMania

The now-retired WWE Hall of Famer AJ Styles joined Insight with Chris Van Vliet, highlighting his recent retirement match, losing to Gunther via submission at this year’s Royal Rumble. Styles explained why he wanted his retirement match to happen at the Rumble over WrestleMania, not viewing WrestleMania as one of his signature events. Below are some highlights from Insight:

AJ Styles on Having His Retirement Match at Royal Rumble Over WrestleMania

“That wasn’t my pay-per-view or PLE. That’s not where I started. For me to be able to debut and then end it at the Royal Rumble, and I don’t care that it was in Saudi Arabia, it’s still the Royal Rumble. That meant something to me. I know there’s people who have WrestleMania as their big PLE, but mine was the Royal Rumble.”

On Why Gunther Was Made His Final Opponent

“That wasn’t up to me; it was up to the story. He had retired Goldberg, he had retired John Cena. Why not retire AJ Styles?”

On Why He Lost After Passing Out in the Sleeper Hold

“Yeah, but I think the whole thing with our match was that I made him tap out, but you weren’t gonna make me tap out, kind of deal, and I didn’t. Went out on my shield and almost had the ropes. But there was the moment there that AJ Styles couldn’t hold out any longer; his body had given up on him, his air supply was gone. Passes out.”

On What It Was Like After He Went Through the Curtain

“It got emotional, because when I went back in Gorilla, it seemed like most of our roster was there waiting on me. Abyss pulls me in like a big brother, the way he pulled me in, and everybody’s just kind of there hugging me, and stuff like that. It was shortly after that when I was done hugging everybody, freaking really hit me. I knew it was about to happen, so I had to get away from everybody, and I tried. They had a locker room away from everybody else that I’d found that they were storing luggage in, so I was like, I’ll just change it here. It’s quiet, it’s cold, it’s nice.

“So I was changing there all by myself with the luggage. I kind of got back there. I ran in there, and I thought I closed the door behind me, but apparently it didn’t. It just bounced right wide open. I had to stand there for a second and just gather my thoughts and shed a couple tears, because AJ Styles is no longer wrestling again. That was tough, but it was okay. I just needed Shane Helms being the first one to come in there, and he knew what was up. I think he’s been through that somewhat before, kind of gave me a hug. I just needed to get that out, and I needed that hug from Shane, and that was okay. It was emotional. I don’t know how to explain it any more than that.”

After announcing his retirement from in-ring competition, AJ Styles was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2026.