Top WWE Star Considered Outside Options Before Re-Signing (WWE News)

Evergreen veteran AJ Styles previously signed a 1-year extension with WWE that'll keep him under wraps at the market leader until February 2026 at the earliest, but Sports Illustrated is reporting that AJ heavily considered his options before putting pen to paper with Triple H on a fresh renewal.

The website claims that "multiple sources" tell them Styles "put feelers out about potential options outside of the company". He was receiving a lot of interest from promotors running various conventions too, and it's believed that AJ was very interested in seeing what might be possible there - there's an awful lot of money to be made from personal appearances, autograph signings, fan photo ops and that sort of thing.

Ultimately, Styles decided to stick around in WWE and has since been placed in a feud over the Intercontinental Title with rising star Dominik Mysterio. It's unlikely that AJ will take that belt from 'Dirty Dom', but he seems happy enough to put the Judgment Day man over and help bolster his title run on TV and WWE PLE regardless.

SI isn't quite sure exactly which promotions Styles was eyeballing before inking that WWE extension, but AEW was surely in the mix. AJ did appear on TNA's Slammiversary PPV in July (in a non-wrestling role; he put Leon Slater over in a promo), but that was easily thrashed out due to WWE's working relationship with the promotion.

It's interesting that Styles has clearly been pondering what life would be like outside WWE, but it's obviously not nailed on that he's going to go elsewhere once his latest extension expires either.

Styles Has Been Linked With An AEW Jump For Years

In 2019, AJ was rumoured in the press as a possible defector to new competitor AEW. Fightful reported after the fact that The Young Bucks held conversations with Styles about maybe making the leap, but AJ decided against it and signed another contract with WWE instead. At the time, he called that his final major contract as an active in-ring worker.

Wrestling Observer chief Dave Meltzer had AJ down as a debutant during All Elite's debut episode of Dynamite that same year. Meltzer believed that Styles would debut alongside his stablemates Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson - all 3 had been known as both The Club and The OC on WWE television, and latterly added Michin to their midst before disbanding.

So, that AEW link just won't disappear. Once AJ's latest WWE extension lapses early next year, the rumours will start up again. Unless he announces a brand new deal with Triple H's league by then, of course. It's hard to imagine that All Elite boss Tony Khan would pass up the chance to sign Styles, and AJ does have friends over on the AEW side.

Rumours will persist into 2026.