7 New Directions For WWE After Saturday Night's Main Event (13 Dec)
5. AJ Styles Announcing His Own Retirement Date
Speaking of which!
AJ Styles has announced that he’ll call time on his career in 2026, we just don’t know when. It’d be fitting if he bowed out at WrestleMania, or maybe stretched things all the way to SummerSlam before eventually wrestling his last match on one of TNA’s biggest shows. Bound For Glory, perhaps? That'd be a full circle moment for the 'Phenomenal One'.
There was nothing too special about AJ and Dragon Lee retaining their tag straps against bouncy boys Je'Von Evans and Leon Slater at SNME. The quartet didn't get a lot of time to work with (they had to make do with approx 5 minutes), but that was likely something they expected before seeing format sheets. They were a supporting act to the Cena stuff, after all.
It'll be interesting to find out exactly when Styles plans to lace up his boots one last time. He wouldn't have wanted to announce anything due to all of the ongoing hubbub surrounding JC's retirement. That would've been messy, not least if AJ had mentioned it in the run up to Saturday's show. Now? Well now he has the freedom to grab that spotlight and shine it right on himself.
Fingers crossed Triple H and WWE come through on something special for Styles. He isn't a WWE lifer like Cena, but he's fully deserving of some epic treatment and the distinction of bowing out on his own terms. Working a few final matches on the WWE side, then switching over to TNA, would be the best call.
Get ready to fly.