Good Brothers On AJ Styles’ Pending Retirement, Says His Story Is Incomplete Without Them

The Good Brothers are good at playing the wrestling business game, and they say that if AJ Styles is retiring without them involved, he’s “lying.” As you surely know, Styles announced in October that 2026 will be his final year in the ring. Styles has not nailed down an exact date, but news of his retirement follows John Cena’s retirement next weekend.

Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson are closely associated with Styles in and out of WWE. They’re currently out of the company, having been released in February. They spoke about Styles’ retirement on the latest episode of their Talk’n Shop Podcast, and you can see highlights below (per Fightful):

Karl Anderson: “It’s a very valid question. With AJ Styles’ retirement coming up, I think people — it’s easy and it’s safe to say that AJ Styles’ storyline or whatever it is, inside the WWE, is obviously not complete without The Good Brothers. I’m not saying he needs us to come back or anything…”

Doc Gallows: “That’s a buzz term in the business the last few years about the story being finished. But if there is a story to be finished, it does include The Good Brothers.”

Karl Anderson: “We never say never about anything, and not even using the ‘never say never’ but we’re open for any talk, ever… I would be blown away — I would hope they clip this — I’d be blown away if AJ Styles goes to his final match — one, two, three — or his final appearance, and he leaves and he takes his boots off. He leaves them in the middle of the ring. He tells the fans worldwide on a platform to the world that he’s leaving professional wrestling, and that’s it and he walks out, goodbye, and there’s zero Good Brother involvement. I’m just saying, I feel like that would be very impossible… If that happens inside that WWE ring, I would say that AJ Styles is not finished.”

Doc Gallows: “Well, that was my point… If they say AJ Styles is retired and there’s no Good Brother involvement, then he’s lying about retiring.”

Karl Anderson: “Yeah, so that means that he will retire there, and then do whatever else he does. Maybe he does this or that and he doesn’t go wrestle away but at some point, there will be some kind of reunion somewhere else. But, if there’s a deal struck and there is some kind of –”

Doc Gallows: “There’s always a deal to be struck.”

Since exiting WWE, The Good Brothers have stayed busy. They have competed for promotions like The Crash, the NWA, and MLW.