AJ Styles Came Close to Leaving WWE for AEW in 2025

AJ Styles was very close to joining AEW in 2025—before making a last-minute decision to stay with WWE for one final run.

That’s according to a January 29, 2026 report from Self Made Pro, which claims the former WWE Champion had fully made up his mind to jump to AEW before ultimately re-signing with WWE on a one-year extension. The new deal, quietly signed in February 2025, locked him in through February 2026—just long enough to wrap up his career during WrestleMania season.

“I can tell you, before I pass it to you all, that on two occasions in the last seven years, AJ Styles not only seriously considered going to AEW—he was actually going to go to AEW. And I can tell you that last year, before he signed that one-year extension, he absolutely, for a very brief period, was going to go to AEW. It was a thing he decided he was going to do.”

This backstage update lands just days before Styles is scheduled to put his career on the line at WWE’s Royal Rumble event on January 31, 2026 in Saudi Arabia. The former WWE Champion is set to face GUNTHER in a high-stakes match that could mark his official retirement if he loses.

Earlier this month, Styles shut down a fan on Twitter who criticized him for not finishing his career in AEW. The fan accused him of chasing a bigger paycheck instead of making the jump.

“I’ll take dumbest things to ever have been said for 100, Alex,” Styles fired back.

Styles previously admitted that he’d spoken with The Young Bucks in 2019 about possibly joining AEW, but no formal contract discussions took place. He instead re-signed with WWE at the time.

With his retirement match looming and new details about near-defections to AEW now coming to light, the limelight on AJ Styles’ final chapter has never been brighter.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.