AJ Styles explains why he never considered having a retirement tour for the tail end of his career.
With December 2025 circled as the date for his retirement match, John Cena spent the preceding 11 months creating his final in-ring memories for WWE fans across the world. The retirement of AJ Styles, on the other hand, came rather quickly as he challenged Gunther to the career-ending match at the 2026 Royal Rumble just weeks beforehand.
According to Styles, that move was purposeful as he, unlike Cena, never pictured an extensive final tour for himself.
“I didn’t need one,” Styles told Insight With Chris Van Vliet. “It was perfectly fine the way I was doing it. In fact, not a lot of people do. So I saw Cody [Rhodes] 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.”
Styles’ in-ring career officially came to an end when he passed out to Gunther’s sleeper hold at the Royal Rumble. The month prior, Cena marked the conclusion of his by taping out to Gunther at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Cena remains an ambassador for WWE. Styles is now a WWE Hall of Famer and actively working as a scout for the company.
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