AJ Styles had a different vision for his post-ring life.
Following his in-ring retirement, former WWE Champion AJ Styles is now helping talents behind-the-scenes while also scouting potential future WWE stars. According to WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H’‘ Levesque, Styles initially tested the waters for other backstage roles. Upon his exploration, though, Styles seemingly discovered that they weren’t the right fit for him.
“At the end, AJ was like, ‘I don’t want to be done with the business. I want to be done wrestling.’ And I don’t think I’m betraying a confidence here,” Triple H said on What Do You Wanna Talk About. “But even in his last match, he was telling me like, ‘I so know I’m done because I was out there in that last match thinking like, let’s just get [it] over with, I just want to get to the end.’
“He wants to participate in the business, right? But being an agent or a producer, it’s a different world. Being in what we do, there’s different fits for different people. AJ came in, he sat in on some creative meetings, he sat in on some production meetings. And I think he realized like, the writing thing’s not for me, the producer thing, I don’t think is for me. What I really like is getting to these young kids and spotting talent and then trying to help fan the flames of the little spark that’s there and try to make them into something more, the developmental side of it. So great, let’s utilize him in that and grab those talents there.” (H/T Wrestling Observer)
Styles made his pro wrestling debut in 1998, with notable runs in TNA, ROH, NJPW, and WWE coming in the years following. His last WWE match took place at the 2026 Royal Rumble, with “The Career Killer” Gunther defeating him. WWE will honor Styles’ contributions to the company with a formal induction into the Hall of Fame next weekend.
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