Triple H Says AJ Styles Has A List Of People He Wants To Wrestle Before Retiring (WWE News)

WWE's AJ Styles still has plenty of people on his hitlist.

WWE Raw AJ Styles
WWE

With AJ Styles potentially having just a matter of days remaining in his legendary career, WWE CCO Paul Levesque says that the Phenomenal One has a list of opponents he'd like to wrestle before hanging up his boots.

Speaking on ESPN's Unsportsmanlike (via f4wonline), Triple H said:

"AJ Styles has not made it a secret this year, 2026, is going to be his last in-ring year, but he has a lot of goals and a lot of people. I know, he’s with me every week making a list of people that he would want to face and that he wants to meet in the ring before he retires."

The Game didn't name anybody specific that Styles wants to cross off his hitlist before calling it a day, but he did have plenty of praise for P1, describing the former two-time WWE Champion's career as "unbelievable", and describing AJ as an "incredible talent".

Advertisement

Of course, AJ Styles faces Gunther at the Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this Saturday, where Styles will have to retire should he come up short against the Ring General. On the potential retirement of AJ, Triple H said he hopes that doesn't happen, but that remains to be seen when the Rumble rolls around this weekend.

Interestingly, WWE recently filed for a "Career Killer" trademark as a new nickname for Gunther. Having had the final match of both Bill Goldberg and John Cena's careers, will the powerhouse Austrian add AJ Styles to that list on Saturday?

Advertisement

It's also worth noting that this week's Raw saw AJ specifically reference this upcoming match possibly being the final match of his "WWE career", which has since led to fans speculating that, should Styles come up short against Gunther, he may see out the rest of 2026 competing in certain other promotions, be that revisiting old stomping grounds like TNA and NJPW, or potentially even stopping by AEW for a dream match or two before all is said and done.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.