GUNTHER Says Retiring AJ Styles ‘Felt Almost More Important’ Than Retiring John Cena
GUNTHER compares ending AJ Styles’ WWE career to John Cena’s retirement.
On January 31, just six weeks after making John Cena tap out in his final match, GUNTHER had the opportunity to end the career of another icon of professional wrestling. At the Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, AJ Styles put his career on the line against ‘The Ring General’, and fans were once again left deflated when the Austrian earned a technical submission victory. Having recently taken down both Cena and Styles, the former World Heavyweight Champion has now reflected on which meant more to him personally.
Speaking on WWE Retrospective, GUNTHER said that retiring AJ Styles might’ve meant more to him than ending John Cena’s career due to the fact he looked up to ‘The Phenomenal One’ from his time outside WWE.
“AJ is kind of different where it’s like, you had Goldberg and John Cena. There was the WCW legend Goldberg, and then you have the guy that stands for WWE, and then you have AJ, who’s somewhat a little more similar to me when it comes to his career. He had a great run here, but a lot of the stuff that people love him for happened before WWE. He’s one of those guys, what I talked about before. The generation in wrestling that I came up with, we looked up to guys like AJ Styles. I remember when he was in New Japan, we always watched his big matches there. They were fantastic and stuff. There was a time when I was really grinding and developing. There was stuff I would watch, so I always had so much respect for AJ’s work. That almost kind of felt, from the wrestler purist heart, that felt almost more important for me than the Cena match. But on-screen, being able to rub it in and try to ruin the last run he has, it was a lot of fun.”
-GUNTHER
Coming into WrestleMania season with the careers of three legends under his belt, many wondered how WWE would capitalise on the momentum GUNTHER had built after toppling Goldberg, Cena, and Styles. After moving into a feud with AJ’s former tag team partner Dragon Lee, it looked as if the star would then transition into a rivalry with Rey Mysterio, perhaps with the masked man’s career at stake, but injuries meant the company weren’t ultimately convinced the Hall of Famer would be ready in time.
Instead, they opted to pivot GUNTHER away from duties as the so-called ‘Career Killer’ for the time being, with GUNTHER instead set for a match with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 42. The two former World Heavyweight Champions will clash this Saturday, with many highlighting it as a possible show-stealer. You can read more about when WWE locked in plans for the match here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on GUNTHER as soon as we hear more.
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