AJ Styles Names WWE Star He ‘Squeezed The Hardest’ After Final Match

AJ Styles has detailed what happened immediately after he wrestled his final match against GUNTHER at WWE Royal Rumble 2026.

With AJ Styles spending 10 years in WWE and competing outside the company for a further 17 years before that, “The Phenomenal One” has built up plenty of strong bonds with fellow talent.

While they rarely worked together in a prominent way on WWE programming, AJ Styles and Xavier Woods’ history dates back to the mid to late 2000s in TNA Wrestling and during Styles’ appearance on What’s Your Story? With Stephanie McMahon, he detailed how he got Woods a spot in the promotion:

“I got him into TNA, actually it was Wendy (Styles’ wife) who said, ‘Hey, that Austin guy that you were working out with, you should see if he wants to… because we needed a guy and he just kind of stepped up and was that guy. Got him into TNA and eventually he’s in WWE.”

Discussing his emotions after his final WWE match at the Royal Rumble, Styles named Woods as the person he “squeezed the hardest” backstage, given their history together:

“I was fine, I was AJ Styles all the way from the end of the match, all the way to when I got to the back.

“First person I hugged was Chris Park, Abyss, and then so on, and Punk, I hugged everyone there and it was great. As soon as I walked around to leave, it freaking hit me. “Then you see me power walking, a little bit of running, to get to where they were stacking the bags, because that just made it my locker room and I thought I shut the door, didn’t shut it apparently, so I just had my back to the door and I’m kinda trying not to (cry) like the biggest baby in the world.

“And Shane Helms comes up and kind of grabs me and he said, ‘It’s alright, you’re good man, you don’t have to turn your back.’ It meant so much for him to come up and see me. Then Jolene our seamstress comes up and she’s hugging on me. Then Xavier comes up and I probably squeezed him the hardest because I’ve known him for so long and seeing him do so well in so many different things, it was a special moment.

“I squeezed him hard, he’s my guy. I squeezed a lot of people hard that night, it’s like you (Stephanie McMahon) said we might not be able to talk to each other like we used to but when we see each other it’s like no time is passed. We still know each other, it’ll still be the biggest hug. “I’ll miss that I really will. So let’s hope I find a way to stay connected.”

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Styles also discussed why he decided to not leave his gloves inside the ring after his WWE retirement match – click here for full details.