AJ Styles Feared Severe Foot Injury Would End His WWE Career

On the October 4 episode of WWE SmackDown, AJ Styles returned to TV after several months, exciting fans. However, he suffered a foot injury during his in-ring return that night. Styles has now revealed how he recovered and admitted he feared it could have been a career-ending injury.

While speaking to Chris Van Vliet, AJ Styles talked about the foot injury and said that, initially, he thought it was just a broken bone. Since he had broken the same foot before, he was frustrated because he knew how long it would take to heal. However, he soon found out it was much worse—it was a tendon injury.

Styles noted that his doctor told him not to look up information about it, but he did anyway. He learned that it was a serious injury that could end a career. It usually happens in car accidents and football. His doctors said they could do surgery to help it heal faster, but it might cause problems as he got older. Instead, they decided to try therapy first.

“I knew I broke it, right? If you broke it before—same foot—I’m pissed, because now I know how long it’s gonna take to get back. But little did I know, it was much worse than a break.

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It was tendons. And my doctor, who is my friend, was like, ‘Do not look this up.’ And I’m like, ‘Imma look this up.’

It’s a career-ending injury and I got worried. It happens in car wrecks and football mostly. In football, it’s one of those things—depending on how severe it is—I was literally by the skin of my teeth. They were like, ‘We can do surgery on your foot, and it can heal faster, but there can be complications as you get older. We don’t know. Let’s try some therapy and see if we can get it back to where it was.’“

Fortunately, he was able to get the therapy he needed, but the process was difficult. He had to relearn how to walk, which made him realize how easy it was to forget something like running. After six weeks in a boot and six more weeks of therapy, he slowly started getting better. Styles admitted that the injury was tough both physically and mentally.

“Lucky for me, I was able to get the therapy that I needed. It wasn’t easy—it sucked. So crazy that you have to learn how to walk again. I’m like, ‘How did I forget how to run?’ Because I was in a boot for six weeks, then I had six weeks of therapy trying to figure this thing out. It’ll mess with you. It took a toll on me.”

Styles explained that he operates at two speeds—either all in or not at all. Once the adrenaline wears off, he still feels some soreness and sometimes limps as he adjusts to using his foot again. Styles says he has to stretch and strengthen his tendons, but overall, he feels good about his recovery.

“Because I’ve got two gears—all or nothing. After the adrenaline wears off, I’m sore a little bit. So you might catch me limping afterwards until I get used to this foot, with all the stretching and all those tendons and stuff like that. But so far, so good.”

Thankfully, AJ Styles returned during the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event and has since been a regular feature on Monday Night RAW. With WrestleMania 41 approaching, we’ll have to see what’s next for AJ Styles, as his direction is certainly fluid right now.

Are you surprised by AJ Styles’ injury and recovery story? How do you see his WWE future playing out, especially with WrestleMania coming up? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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