The Phenomenal One may not have much more left in the tank.
AJ Styles is one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. With stints in TNA, New Japan Pro Wrestling and WWE under his belt, there really isn’t much he hasn’t done, but, at 46 years old, there comes a time where every athlete questions whether they’ve given everything they can and it appears as if the current SmackDown star is starting to think about life away from the ring.
Speaking on The Ringer, AJ Styles admitted that he’s getting close to having to call it a day in terms of active competition, but he made it clear that, when the time comes, he wants his retirement to be part of a storyline.
“I’m anxious to see what story comes next. I’m getting close. I’m getting close to the end. I want to have that story and match to go with it before I leave the WWE. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most,”
-AJ Styles
Asked to elaborate on this, AJ said that he knows his time is coming based on his body hurting when he tries to get out of bed. He explained that he’s worried about wrestling for too long and embarrassing himself with his performances.
“I’m done. I’m going to retire. I’m getting to that point where I am worried about embarrassing myself. My brain says, ‘We can do this.’ My body is like, ‘You’re stupid. We cannot do this. We’re hurting every day when we roll out of bed. At some point, this has to come to an end.’ I’ve realized, like so many others that come before me, the greats, they get out of it when we think there is still time for them. It’s because we don’t want to embarrass ourselves. We’re just trying to get out while we still can where we can still get around and just have fun away from wrestling. I love it, this is what I do and what I know. I’ve spent more than half my life doing this, but at some point, you have to let go because it’s fun, but I don’t want to disappoint you. When you see AJ Styles, I want you to go, ‘That’s my guy, that’s the guy I know,’ rather than go, ‘He just isn’t the same guy and can’t do what he used to.’ I don’t want to be that guy. I don’t want to let you down. My time is coming. It’s getting short. I am going to enjoy it, I promise you that.”
-AJ Styles
Whenever Styles chooses to step away from the ring, he will be looked back on as one of the most decorated and successful performers of his generation. Plus, should he want to remain in the wrestling bubble, there is likely to be a further role offered to AJ outside of the ring, such as that of a producer or a scout.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on AJ Styles’ in-ring future as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
