AJ Styles Returning Soon, Hopeful Of Royal Rumble 2025 Clearance (WWE News)
WWE could have AJ Styles back in time for Royal Rumble 2025.
WWE is hopeful that injured star AJ Styles will be cleared in time for Saturday's Royal Rumble 2025 event.
PWInsider Elite reports that Styles will be in Indianapolis, Indiana for the Saturday, 1 February supershow. While there is no guarantee he'll be in the men's Royal Rumble, WWE hopes Styles will be cleared for it.
If Styles does compete in Saturday, it'll be for the first time since 4 October 2024, when he was injured while wrestling Carmelo Hayes on SmackDown. The veteran injured his foot in that contest, suffering a Lisfranc issue affecting central ligaments and bones.
The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reported at the time that AJ was "pretty mad about the whole thing." Styles was apparently set to start a "farewell tour" story prior to the injury, throughout which he would have teased retirement. Whether or not this would still be the plan when he got back depended on the results of his MRI.
AJ himself provided an injury update on 11 January, responding to an X user:
I'll be honest, this injury is challenging. https://t.co/uIwfcKWnMD— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) January 11, 2025
Whether or not the "farewell tour" idea will become a reality remains to be seen. We might find out at Royal Rumble 2025 on Saturday.
In September, Fightful Select's WWE sources stated a belief that Styles' WWE contract was set to expire in late 2024 or early 2025. There was no word on if WWE had attempted to re-sign him at that stage. Given that AJ has been injured for close to three months, WWE would presumably have the contractual right to extend Styles' deal if they saw fit.
Styles, 47, has been with WWE for nine years, having debuted in the 2016 Royal Rumble.