Tony Khan Shares Thoughts On AJ Styles After WWE Retirement

AEW President Tony Khan has shared his thoughts on AJ Styles following his recent retirement at WWE Royal Rumble 2026.

AJ Styles officially called time on his in-ring career at this past Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble 2026 premium live event, with “The Phenomenal One” passing out to GUNTHER’s rear-naked choke.

While WWE names Triple H and Peter Rosenberg affirmed that AJ Styles was done competing in the ring after his final WWE match, speculation regarding Styles potentially continuing his career outside of the company has been in abundance since January 31 – due in no small part to Styles refusing to leave his gloves inside the ring after his loss to GUNTHER.

Appearing on YoJoshMartinez, Tony Khan heaped praise on Styles’, saying he considers him “one of the all-time greats”.

Khan said:

“I think that AJ Styles is absolutely a fantastic wrestler. He’s one of my favorites and I think he’s had an amazing career all over the world.

“He’s never been in AEW before but he has wrestled in Ring of Honor and in ROH he had some fantastic matches, and also, as a fan, some of my favorite stuff was when AJ Styles was in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

“His match with Minoru Suzuki is one of my personal favourites and he had a great alliance with the Bullet Club at that time…

“…He’s somebody who’s had a great career in so many different companies around the world and certainly I consider him to be one of the all-time greats.”

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Khan was not asked about the possibility of Styles potentially joining AEW, and as of the time of writing, Styles is still listed on WWE’s roster page.

We will provide further updates on AJ Styles’ future as any new information becomes available.