AJ Styles called him on his WWE career in Saudi Arabia, but rumours persist he may still wrestle elsewhere, including AEW.
Styles lost to Gunther at the Royal Rumble and as the stipulation called for, he had to walk retire from WWE.
But does that mean retiring from wrestling?
His WWE contract was up this month anyway so it seemed like a natural stopping point for all involved, especially given Gunther’s ‘career killer’ gimmick that had already retired Goldberg and John Cena.
Styles has been desperate to retire for a while. He has made no secret of his desire to stop wrestling, but we’ve heard similar things from names like Bryan Danielson before and they ended up working elsewhere.
Appearing on The Battleground podcast, AEW owner Tony Khan addressed Styles’ retirement.
“Oh, I’m a huge fan of AJ Styles. I think he’s incredible. He’s had great matches all over the world.
“We were just talking about ROH – he did some incredible things in ROH that are a part of our library, and also with our partners at New Japan Pro Wrestling. He was involved in some of the all-time greatest matches.
“His match with Minoru Suzuki is one of my all-time favorites, and he’s had great matches with multiple companies all over the world.
“He’s never been in AEW before, but he certainly has history with a lot of the promotions we work with. And of course, in ROH, he has a great history.
“For me, he’s one of my all-time favorites. Just personally, in my opinion, I think he’s one of the greatest wrestlers ever. I have only the highest praise for AJ Styles. Thanks for asking.”
Fightful has also reported that if AEW are told there’s a chance to sign AJ Styles, that’s exactly what they’ll try and do.
