‘The Phenomenal One’ doesn’t want a retirement tour.
As part of John Cena’s final run, the 17-time world champion revisited many of his iconic past feuds, including running back his rivalry with ‘The Phenomenal’ AJ Styles. The pair shared the ring this past October at Crown Jewel in Australia as one of the industry’s biggest ever icons continued to wind down his career, but, with retirement something Styles has set his sights on for sometime in 2026, Cena has now revealed whether a year-long tour could be something of interest to the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet on Insight, John Cena revealed that AJ Styles told him he wasn’t interested in a retirement tour as he feels he’s already overstaying his physical welcome.
“I got to talk to him a little bit while we were locked in our program this year. And I’m like, ‘Man, AJ, there’s a lot of people who really admire you out there. I know you’re thinking of calling it quits soon. Do you think that there’s any possibility you would try to do something like this? Because I honestly think people would pay to see you one last time.’ He’s literally tying his shoes. He turns to me and goes, ‘Man, I’m 48.’ And as soon as the words left his mouth, he didn’t have to say anything else. It’s like something about that late 40s where he’s like, ‘I’m already overstaying my physical welcome. They just don’t see it because they don’t see what goes into prep, cooldown, recovery. I’m already riding that razor’s edge.’ You can’t tell. He still looks great, still does some great stuff, but he can’t stay another second because he doesn’t want to put out a product that isn’t AJ Styles.”
-John Cena
While he’s signalled his intent to hang up his boots next year, little is known as to how Styles plans to retire from the ring. At present, he remains one-half of the WWE World Tag Team Champions alongside Dragon Lee. Most recently, the pair retained their gold against The War Raiders on last night’s edition of RAW.
Styles is one of the most accomplished wrestlers of the last two decades, having successful stints for all of TNA, NJPW and WWE, and he’ll certainly be missed when the time comes for him to retirement.
Elsewhere in the interview, Cena was asked to shed light on the original plans for his heel turn. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on AJ Styles’ 2026 retirement as soon as we hear more.
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