AJ Styles knows you might not want to hear it, but he believes WrestleMania doesn’t have the status it once did.
Styles retired from WWE after losing to Gunther at the 2026 Royal Rumble. WWE also hosted a tribute ceremony for Styles on RAW this week. The show was attended by several TNA names and Styles’ family. After the show, Styles spoke with WWE Now for this week’s RAW Recap. Styles shared why the Royal Rumble retirement made more sense to him than a “traditional” WrestleMania sendoff.
“It was coming back from an injury, to WrestleMania, to a match, to me, that didn’t have much build. And WrestleMania, I’m sorry to say, used to be the most prestigious PLE or pay-per-view,” AJ Styles said. “But to me, it’s kind of lost its luster a little bit. But as far as the Royal Rumble, that’s special to me, because it’s where I made my debut. So, to be able to end where I started, it’s poetic.”
AJ Styles previously said a WrestleMania retirement didn’t feel right
Styles’ comments on the RAW Recap echo what he said on RAW about the Royal Rumble being a poetic end to his WWE career. The Phenomenal AJ Styles made his debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble, marking a WWE career that spanned nearly ten years to the day.
During a Royal Rumble vlog, Styles also said that coming off a serious injury for a two-month retirement run at WrestleMania 41 just felt wrong.
“But once I got healed up and was comfortable enough running and doing what I needed to do to be AJ Styles, it just didn’t feel right to come back for two months just to retire. It didn’t seem right,” Styles said during the vlog. “And I thought, what a better way to be able to leave on the pay-per-view where you debuted.”
AJ Styles’ tribute segment on WWE RAW was also capped off by The Undertaker announcing Styles was the latest inductee into the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame.
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