Triple H reveals what AJ Styles said to him about wanting to retire as a professional wrestler
While appearing on Cody Rhodes’ podcast, Paul “Triple H” Levesque commented on AJ Styles retiring as a professional wrestler at the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble PLE…
“Towards the end, AJ was like, ‘I don’t want to just be done with the business—I want to be done wrestling.’ And I don’t think I’m betraying a confidence here, but even in his last match, he was telling me, ‘I know I’m done,’ because he was out there in that last match thinking, ‘Let’s just get this over with. I just want to get to the end.’
But he wants to participate in the business, right? Being an agent or producer is a different world than being in what we do. There are different fits for different people. AJ came in, he sat in on some creative meetings, he sat in on some production meetings, and I think he realized the writing thing’s not for him, the producer thing isn’t for him. What he really likes is getting to these young kids, spotting talent, and trying to help fan the flames of that little spark and turn it into something more—the developmental side.
So great, let’s utilize him in that role and have him work with that talent. There are some guys that just get done with the business and want to be completely done—they don’t want to be on the road, deal with the hassle, or any of the other stuff.”