AJ Styles Explains Why He Knew It Was Time To Retire, Reveals What He Misses About Wrestling

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, WWE Hall of Famer AJ Styles discusses staying true to his plan to retire before turning 50, along with what he misses about wrestling and what he doesn’t miss about it. Below are some highlights from Insight:

AJ Styles on Why He Knew It Was Time To Retire

“Well, it’s the thought of me not being able to be AJ Styles, to throw that 450 in against Gunther one last time to say I can still do this, I just don’t have to anymore, was me saying all right, I am older, but I can still go, but that’s not the reason to stay in it. At some point, you will embarrass yourself if you stay in it long enough. You will embarrass yourself because people will say, ‘Wow, that’s not the AJ Styles I used to know. Man, that’s really bad.’ I preface this by saying, a lot of people [said], ‘Well, he slowed down. He wasn’t doing what he was doing in TNA…’ Wrong. I just actually learned psychology, you know. And I’m not saying that was a doofus in TNA, but when psychology comes into play, matches are a lot better with doing less. So it’s just, man, I’m thankful for the career I’ve had, and at that point, at 48 years old, I made the right decision.”

On If He Misses It

“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 and have a great match. 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.”

On There Never Being Talk of a Match With John Cena Earlier in 2025

“Nothing, never a talk of me having a match with John. Listen, I just assume I’m not that guy. I’m not that guy. Sometimes I feel like even though I’ve been in WWE for 10 years, I’m not a WWE guy. So, and that was just one of those times.”

AJ Styles on Why He Never Thought About a Retirement Tour

“No, not at all. I didn’t need one. It was perfectly fine the way I was doing it. In fact, not a lot of people do. So I saw Cody and John calling their match at WrestleMania, I believe it was the one that I was supposed to retire at, and I kind of went up to him, and I go, ‘Hey, this is to us in our last WrestleManias.’ He’s like, ‘ Huh? I was like, yeah. So it was kind of cool to be there for his last run, and I credit John for that. It wasn’t about the tour; it was about making money for WWE and him getting his flowers at the same time.”

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.