On his Talk’n Shop podcast, Karl Anderson revealed a new detail that factored into the retirement of his friend AJ Styles.
Explaining that the two do not speak all that often due to being so busy with their families, the former Raw Tag Team Champion stated that the topic came up when discussing Styles retiring after the Royal Rumble:
He said, ‘Dude, I have to. My neck is hurting too bad, I’m beat up, it’s time. I want to help the next generation.’ And I go, ‘Well, I didn’t really believe it, so I just kept talking on my podcast about how you were not going to retire and you’re going to go here and you’re going to go there. And now I gotta eat a lot of crow, pal.
So ladies and gentlemen, fans of Talk’n Shop, it’s my esteemed honor to humbly apologize for giving anybody false hope that AJ Styles was not going to retire. Clearly, I was wrong. He shoot retired.
Styles made note of his reasons for stepping away during a promo on the 2/23 edition of Raw, with a big focus on being home more often to be with his family.
That night saw a big tribute for the former WWE Champion, before The Undertaker announced that Styles will be inducted into the 2026 class of the WWE Hall of Fame.
Source: F4WOnline