WWE: Triple H on “AJ Styles Made It Very Clear To Me That He Was Just Done With The In-Ring”, Backstage Update on Powerhouse Hobbs’ New Royce Keys Ring Name in WWE, WWE 2K26 Debut Gameplay Trailer Released

Triple H Comments on “AJ Styles Made It Very Clear To Me That He Was Just Done With The In-Ring”

As noted before, Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble 2026 event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia featured Gunther defeating AJ Styles in a Career Threatening match. This match was notable for Styles’ putting his in-ring wrestling career on the line and would have to retire if he lost.

Following the event, WWE held a Royal Rumble post-show featuring WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque. One of the topics discussed included Levesque’s thoughts about Styles’ influence and legacy on the wrestling business.

“You know, it’s a funny thing that in this business, there are very few people that are universally loved, that are universally respected, right? That no matter the wars they’ve had with other people, no matter the battles that they’ve had in this business, all of that is aside. Almost no one ever has a bad word to say about AJ Styles. It’s a testament to the human being that he is. When you look at his career, it’s easy to say, just in the decade that he was here in WWE alone, how big of a career, how impactful of a career. But he’s one of those people, I feel like his influence on this business will be Shawn Michaels-esque. There will be somebody 10 years from now, there will be a lot of people 10 years from now that when you talk about what got you into this business, they will say AJ Styles. When you say, what influenced your career? AJ Styles. Who do you pattern yourself after? AJ Styles. He has that level of respect and sort of impact on the business. It’s hard to measure.”

Levesque also gave his thoughts about the potential of Styles working as a coach for WWE and how Styles made it clear to him that he is just done with the in-ring portion of his wrestling career.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations on the off-chance when this all came down. Obviously, we expected it later in the year. We had a lot of conversations about it. AJ is one of those people that absolutely wants to give back and be a part of this business. I don’t wanna speak for him, but the conversations that he had with me, he made it very clear that he was just done with the in-ring. There’s a point when you just reach in your career where you say, I don’t want to do this anymore, and when your heart goes, no matter how good you are — he hasn’t lost a step, at anything — but when you just say, I’m just at a place when I don’t wanna do this anymore, it’s time. Before you get hurt, before you get told you’re not allowed to do this anymore. I think he was there. I’m hoping that he will contribute, because again, he’s one of the most influential people in the business and one of the greatest minds in the business and I think when you see somebody like what Shawn Michaels is doing in NXT, I think that’s a path and a career for AJ Styles, beyond this period that he’s in.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com

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Backstage Update on Powerhouse Hobbs’ New Royce Keys Ring Name in WWE

As noted before, former AEW talent Powerhouse Hobbs made his official debut for WWE as a surprise entrant in the Men’s Royal Rumble event at Saturday’s Royal Rumble 2026 event in Saudi Arabia. Hobbs’s entrance video briefly displayed his Powerhouse ring name before transitioning into his new ring name of Royce Keys.

Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Hobbs’ new ring name in WWE is a tribute to both his son’s first name of Royce and his late mother’s maden name of Keys.

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WWE 2K26 Debut Gameplay Trailer Released

Saturday’s WWE Royal Rumble 2026 event featured WWE and 2K Games officially releasing the debut gameplay trailer for their upcoming WWE 2K26 video game.

WWE 2K26 is currently scheduled to be released on March 13th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC (Steam).