Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Finn Balor & More Send Heartfelt Messages For AJ Styles Following WWE Retirement

AJ Styles’ WWE career came to a close last weekend at the Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as The Phenomenal One failed to defeat Gunther in a career-threatening match.

It marked a poetic end to Styles’ WWE career, which started at the same premium live event a decade ago. The Phenomenal One recently appeared on What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon, where he received heartfelt messages from top WWE Superstars, such as Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Finn Balor, The Miz, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, and more.

Check out their messages below:

Roman Reigns: “A hell of a worker. A hell of a teammate. Just an old a** video game brother. That reflects on who he is as a person. The discipline that he has being involved in professional wrestling, being on the road but continuing to be a family man and being a father. Just happy that I was able to make some mark with him when our time came a few years ago. Would have been cool to run it back again and explore new chapters together because there is phenomenal chemistry there. So, big Allen, have fun and be safe, brother. We’ll see you down the road.”

Randy Orton: “What I respect about him is the kind of husband and the kind of father he is. AJ, if you are listening to this, man, I love you, buddy. I wish you the best, and thanks for the good times inside the ring and out.”

Damian Priest: “I don’t know anybody who has been a better positive influence in the locker room in my time here. So thank you so much for being you.”

Abyss: “My favorite match ever to this day, 2005 Lockdown. First Lockdown. Steel Cage. You and me. My single greatest match I ever had because of you. God bless you, Wendy, your children. Have a great retirement. I love you to death. I always will.”

Shinsuke Nakamura: “AJ is special to a lot of people, but for me, it’s more than that. One of my best friends. He’s like a brother. I miss him already.”

Xavier Woods: “Because of AJ Styles, I made my way into TNA, which helped me make my way to WWE, helped me find The New Day, helped me create that, and helped me have the career that I had. So I want to say, ‘Thank you, AJ! You’re the man!’ So sad to see you go but happy that we got the time with you that we did.”

Sami Zayn: “AJ, what to say, buddy? I’ve been really, weirdly, disproportionately emotional about the thought of you leaving. I don’t know; it’s doing something to me, man. I’ll miss you!”

The Miz: “I’m thankful to have AJ as a WWE Superstar, as a friend. I am gonna miss him a lot because AJ is one of those guys you wanna have around. But it’s time for him to spend time with his family.”

Finn Balor: “I feel so happy that he is able to retire with his health. AJ, I just wanna say congratulations on such an incredible career, and from a personal standpoint, I wanna say thank you because you’ve always been such a constant source of inspiration for me. And I know we’ve had very similar career paths, but I’ve always, always looked up to you, and for me you are the benchmark for what it is to be professional both inside and outside the ring. Very grateful that I got the opportunity to share the last 10 years with you in this company. I know we kind of dodged each other a lot in the indies. You were in TNA; I was in Japan. When you came to Japan, I was in NXT. But I feel like getting to know you over the last 10 years at the personal level and in the ring and just witnessing how great and phenomenal you really are, I want to say thank you for being AJ Styles.”

Check out their comments below [from 1:10:35 onward]:

Elsewhere in the interview, AJ Styles also received a heartfelt message from his wife. You can check that out HERE.

Please credit What’s Your Story? With Steph McMahon, and give an H/T to 411Mania for the transcription if you take quotes from this copy.