AJ Styles Retires From WWE at the Royal Rumble

The most anticipated match of the Royal Rumble: Will AJ Styles prevail or will Gunther retire the legendary wrestler? Gunther has built himself as the legend killer by retiring both Goldberg and John Cena. By defeating Styles, he now becomes undeniable.

Styles has been adamant that 2026 is his final year in professional wrestling. The Royal Rumble is his 10-year anniversary with WWE, so retiring at the landmark event makes a lot of sense. It also may have been spoiled by one of Styles’ final opponents. Nevertheless, in those 10 years Styles has won countless titles and become a household name.

Styles’s career spans two decades in promotions around the world. He signed with ROH/TNA in the early 2000s, becoming the face of TNA during his time. In 2014 he left to join New Japan Pro Wrestling where he became the leader of the Bullet Club when Finn Balor left for WWE. Two years later, he’d join him. In his WWE career, he became a two-time WWE Champion, a three-time U.S. Champion, Intercontinental Champion and a Tag Team Champion. Most recently, he won the World Tag Team Championships with Dragon Lee.

Gunther’s legend killer status is 3-0

The match started out evenly between the two but eventually Gunther’s power became too much for Styles. He was manhandled around the ring for the better part of the match but then, the ever resilient Styles, started fighting back. He got some defense in but in the end Gunther locked in a sleeper hold to defeat him.

Immediately you could hear a pin drop. The air was completely sucked out of the room. Styles celebrated with the fans, throwing up the Two Sweet — a symbol that became synonymous with his Bullet Club stablemates — and his iconic gloved hand gesture. He went to take them off but the fans were chanting for him not to. Instead, he put them back on and held up his “P1” symbol one last time. Could it also be a sign that he’s not really done? Typically wrestlers will leave their boots in the ring, and that’s not what he did. But maybe we’re all in a state of denial.