AJ Styles is back in WWE after missing months due to an injury. It looks like he’ll be facing Logan Paul at WrestleMania 41, but what comes after for the future Hall of Famer? At the age of 47, the Phenomenal One doesn’t have a lot of time left in the ring, and in a recent interview he gave the exact age he will retire by, no matter what. This gives both WWE and Styles some time to figure out the best way to end his legendary wrestling career. There are a lot of ways to do it, but the best option is to tap into a current WWE relationship. AJ Styles has to retire by having one last run in the company he helped build. He needs to return to TNA.
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AJ Styles Insists He Will Retire By The Age of 50
The Phenomenal One Has Less Than Three Years Left In Wrestling
- AJ Styles has been wrestling for so long that he was even in WCW.
- Styles is in the best shape of his career.
- AJ Styles admits that he’s losing his stamina.
AJ Styles started his wrestling career in 1998 and has been around so long that he even had a very short run in WCW during their last days. He has been with WWE since his memorable Royal Rumble debut in 2016, but the last few years have seen him mostly take a step back. He might be more jacked than he’s ever been, but he’s also aging and more of a part-time star due to hiatuses and a nasty leg injury that happened last year, not too long after he came back.
No one can wrestle forever, so does AJ Styles think about the end? In an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Styles admitted that he does, saying:
“I will not wrestle to 50, I promise you that… Things aren’t as easy as they used to be. The first thing you lose as you get older is your stamina… So I really try to make sure that I find ways, knowing where I’m at in my match, if I’m gonna do something crazy, that I have enough energy to do it.”
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Another World Title Reign Doesn’t Seem Likely
- AJ Styles joked about how the retirements of Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels didn’t last.
- Styles could be given a last match at WrestleMania.
- The Undertaker had his last match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36.
AJ Styles turns 48 in June, which gives him about two years to go. He might be starting to feel his age, but with his full head of hair and big muscles, he looks at least ten years younger. There is nothing about Styles that makes you think this is a man past his prime who is desperately trying to hang on.
Styles has the right approach to his retirement. In the interview with Van Vliet, he joked about how Ric Flair’s retirements never lasted and how even Shawn Michaels came back because money talks. It would be a shame to see AJ Styles do the same. But how should he end his WWE career? Another run with a world title doesn’t seem likely, with Triple H preferring to go with younger champions. Instead, AJ has been used to build up current main eventers like in his feud with WWE Champion Cody Rhodes last year. WWE could give him a run with a midcard title, but AJ doesn’t need it. He could also end his career at a WrestleMania, like he did to the Undertaker at WrestleMania 36, but as big as that would be, there’s an option out there even bigger.
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AJ Styles Must End His Career In TNA
WWE Now Has A Working Relationship With TNA
- AJ Styles was an X Division and World Champion in TNA.
- Styles wants a one-off match in TNA.
- AJ Styles has ideas for his retirement match.
No matter what AJ Styles does in WWE, for many wrestling fans he will always be remembered most for his time in TNA. He was there from 2002-2014 as their franchise star and one of the faces of the company. Older WWE rejects came and went, but AJ was there, both as a babyface and a heel, doing everything from leading the X Division to being a world champion. He was to TNA what Sting was to WCW. TNA would not have had the success it did without him. That’s why his career must end with them.
This idea would have been impossible not too long ago because it would have meant leaving WWE, the biggest company in the world, to go to TNA, which is not even second. Now, though, times have changed, as WWE has a working relationship with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Chris Van Vliet asked AJ Styles if he’d ever have another match in TNA, to which he said:
“I don’t know. I’d like it to. I think it would be fun to do something like that. Like a one-off, I would definitely do it.” (h/t Fightful)
Any WWE wrestler can have a final championship run or a WrestleMania sendoff if allowed to, but how many get the chance to actually go full circle and return to the company they made their name in two decades prior? AJ Styles could return to TNA for a short run, becoming a champion one more time, or do the one-off he speaks of, either against a legendary TNA name, or a passing of the torch moment to the next generation. To see him come out to his old theme one more time, to have the TNA logo behind him in his swan song, that would be truly phenomenal. We don’t know yet how a last match will happen, but AJ Styles has an idea, telling Chris Van Vliet:
“No opponent in mind… But there’s an idea there that I think kind of sums up who AJ Styles is. We’ll see if it happens. You’ll know it if it does, but we’ll have to wait and see.” (h/t Cageside Seats)
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