The sun is setting on AJ Styles’s professional wrestling career. The Phenomenal One has been competing in the squared circle on a full-time basis for nearly three decades, even having a couple of matches for WCW before that promotion closed its doors in 2001. Styles made his name in Total Nonstop Action, becoming one of the foundational faces of TNA throughout the 2000s. While he was once expected to be a lifer there, Styles would take his talents to New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor in 2014 and embark on a run that catapulted him to the very top of the wrestling industry. It was during this tenure that Styles caught the attention of WWE, leading to him inking a deal with the global leader in sports-entertainment in 2016.
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AJ Styles Reveals Final Goal Before Retirement
The Phenomenal One has his sights set on gold.
Speaking on AfterWords, AJ Styles noted another WWE Championship reign is his last goal ahead of his retirement.
“I need that championship one more time before I call it quits,” Styles said.
Styles has two WWE Championship reigns to his name. He captured the title for the first time in September 2016, just over seven months after his WWE debut. His second reign eclipsed a calendar year, stretching for 371 days, becoming a defining piece of WWE SmackDown history. Styles last held the WWE Championship in November 2018.
Since then, Styles has had world championship matches, challenging for the WWE Universal Championship in Summer 2019 and the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship this past January at WWE Royal Rumble.
As for when retirement will come, Styles noted back in September 2019 that the contract he was on then would be his final wrestling contract. That deal is reportedly for five years, meaning it would expire this fall.
“I could see myself, when my career is finally over, coming down here and working with some of these young athletes [in the WWE Performance Center],” Styles said in a past interview when asked about his life after wrestling. “The men and women here are ready and eager to learn, and I think that’s a positive thing for the WWE going forward.”
Styles is currently feuding with LA Knight. The two are expected to clash in a singles capacity at WWE WrestleMania 40, which will be Styles’s eighth time competing at the Showcase of the Immortals.
