WWE Star Drops MASSIVE Royal Rumble 2026 Spoiler On Instagram (WWE News)

All signs point to AJ Styles retiring at the Royal Rumble this weekend.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE Raw Gunther AJ Styles
WWE

With AJ Styles putting his career on the line at the Royal Rumble this weekend, it appears that the Phenomenal One really will be hanging up his boots in just a matter of days.

Of course, Styles goes one-on-one against Gunther at the Royal Rumble this Saturday, with the Ring General only accepting Styles' offer of a rematch on the basis of P1 being forced to retire should he lose. The Georgia native would agree to those conditions, and so WWE has made the match official for the Rumble.

While AJ Styles had made it known that 2026 was going to be the final year of his illustrious career, many fans presumed AJ would call time on his career at the end of 2026, or at least have a grand send-off at WrestleMania 42. As such, some are presuming that Styles will somehow make it out of the Rumble PLE with his career still intact. However, it looks like that will not be the case, and that, yes, the former two-time WWE Champion will be hanging up his gloves this weekend.

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The first indicator of this was a since-deleted Instagram post from Shinsuke Nakamura, who AJ Styles defeated in a fantastic match at Saturday Night's Main Event this past weekend. There, the King of Strong Style detailed his relationship with AJ and his admiration for him, and specifically mentioned a conversation the pair had during a WWE tour of Japan last year, where Styles told Nakamura that he plans to retire at the 2026 Royal Rumble.

Away from that Shinsuke Nakamura post, the reliable Mike Johnson at PWInsider Elite says he was told several months ago that AJ Styles would be retiring before WrestleMania 42, and that the 2026 Royal Rumble had been discussed as a potential destination for AJ's final match.

Additionally, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer notes that Nakamura's post was "legit", in that Shin had been told by Styles that he was finishing up at the Royal Rumble, and that this was not a planted WWE story so that the company could later claim to have "fooled the Internet". That said, that doesn't mean that plans can't change, though that would mean Gunther would lose at the Royal Rumble, and WWE doesn't want the powerhouse Austrian taking an L right now.

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Whether this really is it for the career of AJ Styles remains to be seen, but there's certainly plenty of extra anticipation as we head into the Royal Rumble, and the wrestling world continues to consider a landscape where AJ is no longer an active talent, which would bring a career to a close that dates all the way back to 1998 and has seen the 48-year-old compete in the likes of WWE, TNA, NJPW, ROH, WCW, NWA, AAA, CMLL, and PWG.

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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.