WWE: AJ Styles Says He Is Planning to Retire “Within The Next Year”, Backstage Update on WWE’s Plans for John Cena vs. AJ Styles Match at Crown Jewel Perth, More News

AJ Styles Says He Is Planning to Retire “Within The Next Year”

As noted before, AJ Styles had posted a cryptic message on Instagram earlier this teasing his wrestling career is nearing its end. Styles had signed a contract extension with WWE this past July that is currently set to expire in February of 2026.

Tokyo Sports held a recent interview with Styles. One of the topics discussed included Styles revealing that he currently has plans to retire from his wrestling career within the next year.

“I’m really excited. I think this will probably be my last match in Japan, so I’m really looking forward to it. I plan to retire soon, and I might not come back to Japan before that.

I’ll probably be at WrestleMania, but it’s not confirmed yet. The details are still undecided, but I will definitely retire within the next year. I don’t want to show my fans a side of me that isn’t AJ Styles. That’s the main reason. I’ve decided to retire before my body can no longer move.”

Styles also gave his thoughts about his current post-wrestling career plans.

“I haven’t decided yet, but I think I’ll probably work for WWE. It might be good to help develop young talent into main roster-caliber wrestlers. But I just don’t know yet.”

Styles also gave his thoughts about how he would like to have a match with Hiroshi Tananashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling before Tanahashi retires from his wrestling career.

“Tana is truly a great wrestler. I don’t think many have contributed as much to the industry as he has. I was truly honored to have wrestled him.

I still want it 1,000 percent (Styles said about another match with Tanahashi). But given our respective positions, I don’t know if it’ll happen. It may be difficult to fight him again, but I want to see his retirement match. Rather than thinking about who the opponent is, I feel that this position is something that has to be earned… We are both on the path to retirement, but this is truly a happy thing. In pro wrestling, your body getting wrecked is part of the deal. Just being able to have a retirement match is a huge blessing.”

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Backstage Update on WWE’s Plans for John Cena vs. AJ Styles Match at Crown Jewel Perth

John Cena is currently scheduled to face off against AJ Styles at WWE’s Crown Jewel Perth event on October 11th in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. Prior to the match being made official, Cena had recently asked fans on Twitter if they wanted to see him face off against Styles for one more time in his wrestling career and pleaded with WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque to listen to the fans and make the match. After the match was made official, Cena thanked Levesque on Twitter for listening to the fans.

Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that his sources stated that WWE officials had always planned for Cena vs. Styles to take place at Crown Jewel Perth.

Meltzer reported that Cena doing an homage to Styles during his match against Logan Paul at Clash in Paris was meant to be part of the build for it.

Styles worked “shoot” promo during an ad break on Netflix during the September 8th WWE RAW show reportedly was also meant to be part of the build for this match.

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WWE News & Notes

WrestleVotes Radio reported that their sources stated that Logan Paul’s name is currently listed internally on WWE’s roster as being a free agent. This is not related to his actual contract status and instead his status for the RAW and SmackDown brands allowing him to move between brands depending on the creative plans for him.

As noted before, Roman Reigns has been away from WWE since this past August due to a storyline injury suffered at the hands of The Vision at the Clash in Paris event. Reigns’ injury was WWE’s way of writing out Reigns for his filming commitments with the upcoming new live action Street Fighter film. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Reigns finished his filming for the new Street Fighter film on Thursday, September 25th.

As noted before, Piper Niven has been out of action for WWE since this past August due to a undisclosed injury that is currently believed to potentially be a career ender. Fightful Select reported that their sources stated that Niven is currently believed to be dealing with a neck injury but while it is serious, the current belief is that she will make a return from it.

As noted before, ESPN recently gave WWE’s Wrestlepalooza a “C” grade for their show review report on their official website. WrestleVotes Radio reported that their sources stated that the general reaction within WWE was one being “stunned” over them not expecting ESPN to publish such a low rating for the event, especially due it being the debut PLE on their new streaming service. It was also reported that many within WWE had also questioned why ESPN would want to generate a negative “online stigma” towards the show due to their feeling that WrestlePalooza was no different from any other standard Premium Live Event.

WWE recently filed a new trademark for “Invasion” on September 24th for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

WWE also recently filed a new trademark for “Los Americanos” on September 22nd for wrestling and entertainment-related purposes to the USPTO. This is the name of the new faction featuring El Grande Americano and two other mystery Americanos.

In a recent interview with the Unlikely with Adrian Hernandez podcast, The Miz gave his thoughts about how CM Punk seems like a different and happier person in his current run with WWE compared to his past initial run. The Miz stated “Seeing him come back, it’s been interesting. Because I remember before, like I remember driving with him, but I also remember when he was at the tail end and it didn’t seem like he was a happy person. And now I see him backstage and it’s a different person than I remember. He seems very happy. I wouldn’t even say complacent because he’s always competitive and always wants to be number one. But also is in a position where he’s teaching a lot, and there are not many of us who have been here for 20 years and have been able to teach, and learn, and adapt. So it’s cool to see the change and happiness, right? Because you want happiness for everyone.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)

In a recent interview with the I Love Wrestling Podcast, current TNA talent Jeff Hardy gave his thoughts about one of the current goals for his wrestling career is to win the NXT Tag Team Championship with his brother Matt. Hardy stated “I meditate and I manifest a lot. As pro wrestlers, you know, we manifest the near future all the time. I kind of medi-fest these days. Over a year ago – if not two years ago – I kind of was meditating and manifesting the thought of us showing up in NXT. And sure enough, that eventually happened. Definitely, for me, to be the NXT champions is on my list of things to accomplish.” (Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com)

As noted before, Stephanie Vaquer had been dealing with an illness for several weeks for the reason why she was absent from the September 8th WWE RAW show. Despite the illness situation, Vaquer was able to return and won the Vacant WWE Women’s World Championship at last week’s Wrestlepalooza event. In a recent new vlog released on WWE’s Spanish language YouTube channel, Vaquer gave her thoughts about her recent illness and how she was almost not medically cleared to compete at Wrestlepalooza because of it. Vaquer stated “What happened was, unfortunately, I had not been feeling well for the past two weeks. I was sick, so I did not feel good physically and, on Sunday, the medical team told me not to participate on Raw on Monday. They spoke with the executives, and I was removed from Raw. They also told me that if I could not make it to Raw, I would no longer be part of Wrestlepalooza, which I completely understood, but I still felt healthy enough to wrestle, so I did everything possible. On Monday Morning, I went to the doctor, and by noon, I was cleared to compete. Around 12 pm and 2 pm, I was already on the airport to head to Raw. Everything was very last-minute, and they were even preparing to announce that I was not cleared for Wrestlepalooza on Saturday. They ran every kind of test on me, and thankfully, I am cleared to compete. Maybe I am not in my absolute best condition after being sick for almost three weeks, but I have the clearance to compete. Everything happens for a reason, and everything worked out perfectly so I could compete for the title at Wrestlepalooza, but it was very difficult to recover my body in 5 days. Sometimes, you don’t always wrestle with your body, but with your heart, and I have that very present. My body may not be at 100% but my heart always is at 100%” It is hard to fully heal in just five days, but you do not always wrestle with your body; you wrestle with your heart. While my body might not be one hundred percent, my heart is always one hundred percent.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)