It Could Be Over For AJ Styles In WWE... (WWE News)
WWE hero sets up potential career-ending match at Royal Rumble on Monday's Raw.
AJ Styles agreed to put his career on the line vs. Gunther during a memorable segment on Monday's episode of Raw. Initially, AJ simply wanted a rematch against the big Austrian, but Gunther upped the stakes by suggesting that Styles (who had previously announced plans to retire in 2026 anyway) cut his send off short by losing to him at Royal Rumble on 31 January.
The match has since been made official.
Gunther will be pulling double duty over in Saudi Arabia at the end of the month - he had entered himself for the 30-man Rumble match before agreeing terms with AJ. Now, the WWE pair will collide on the undercard over in Riyadh. Presumably, this means either the women's Rumble bout or Gunther vs. Styles opens the main card.
That's a guess, but it'd make sense if Gunther/both Gunther and AJ are involved in the Rumble later on too. Opening up with the men's Rumble then putting Gunther vs. Styles in the ring sounds like an odd format going in, so that possible career-ending scenario could well kick the night off.
AJ had already announced his retirement plans around the same time he lost to John Cena over in Australia at Crown Jewel last October. Speaking of Cena, he's one of 2 major retirements Gunther caused in storyline throughout 2025. The ex-Imperium leader also ended the run of Bill Goldberg during a Saturday Night's Main Event special last July.
Could this be the end of the road for Styles? Don't rule it out, but there's certainly more juice to squeeze from a longer retirement tour.