AJ Styles WWE Status Update

A new update has emerged regarding the WWE status of AJ Styles following his retirement match a week ago at Royal Rumble.

Last Saturday, Styles was defeated by GUNTHER in a result that meant Styles had to officially retire from in-ring action.

However, due to the nature of the wrestling business, there has been a ton of skepticism regarding whether Styles is actually retiring, or if this just signifies the end of his WWE career with potential plans to wrestle elsewhere.

This week, Styles did provide something of an update himself, which is that everyone’s allowed to come out of retirement once, so he may do so in the future, but it’s not necessarily in his plans right now.

He made those comments on Stephanie McMahon’s official WWE podcast, which seemed to be significant in itself in that WWE would be unlikely to give someone that platform if they expected the person would be leaving imminently and joining a rival company such as AEW.

In a new update today, that theme continues, as WWE has posted an official list of its top 25 moments from AJ Styles’ 10-year WWE career.

The list was as follows:

1 – Winning the WWE World Championship from Dean Ambrose

2 – Defeating John Cena at SummerSlam 2016

3 – Making his debut at Royal Rumble 2016

4 – Winning the WWE Championship from Jinder Mahal

5 – Super 450 Splash to Dean Ambrose through a table

6 – Defeating John Cena at Money in the Bank 2016 with help from The Good Brothers

7 – Phenomenal Forearm to Roman Reigns through the announce table

8 – Defeating Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 33

9 – Retaining the WWE Championship against John Cena, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler at Fastlane 2018

10 – Winning the last match standing match against Shinsuke Nakamura at Money in the Bank 2018

11 – Entering the WrestleMania 36 boneyard match against The Undertaker in a casket

12 – Winning the United States Championship from Kevin Owens at Madison Square Garden

13 – John Cena’s special introduction at Crown Jewel 2025

14 – Picking up his first win in WWE against Chris Jericho

15 – Emotional farewell at Royal Rumble 2026

16 – Second-rope Styles Clash to Samir Singh onto Sunil Singh

17 – Defeating Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania 34

18 – Making it personal with The Undertaker before their WrestleMania 36 boneyard match

19 – Winning the Intercontinental Championship from Daniel Bryan

20 – Winning the Raw Tag Team Championship with Omos to become a Grand Slam Champion

21 – Making GUNTHER tap out

22 – Winning SmackDown battle royal in 2017

23 – Winning the World Tag Team Championship with Dragon Lee

24 – Retaining the WWE Championship in a handicap match against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at Royal Rumble 2018

25 – Throwing Shane McMahon through a car window

While this isn’t a 100% indication of anything, it does seem to suggest – like Styles’ appearance on Stephanie McMahon’s podcast – that he’s on good terms with the company and isn’t expected to join AEW or any other rival promotion any time soon.

We’ll keep you posted if any further updates emerge.