AJ Styles knew exactly what he was doing when he refused to leave his gloves in the ring at the Royal Rumble. Fans thought he might be backing away from retirement, but Styles had actually come up with another plan—and apparently didn’t tell a single person in WWE about it.
Speaking on WWE Retrospective, Styles looked back at his career-ending match against Gunther at the 2026 Royal Rumble. Walking out knowing it would be his final match messed with his head more than he expected.
“I did know that I wanted to leave The Royal Rumble. I would love to tell you how easy it was. This is where I started, I didn’t care where it was at. It’s still The Royal Rumble no matter where it’s at. It was a very strange moment walking out, knowing it was going to be your last time.”
The WWE Hall of Famer found himself second-guessing everything before the bell. Once he got inside the ring, he was able to lock in and do his job, but the reality of what was happening never completely went away.
“It’s one of those things that, I can’t even explain it to you. I just got—I was weird for a minute, I really was. I know you’re like, ‘Well, what’s weird?’ Second guessing everything. Everything that you do, just like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ your brain’s going a thousand miles an hour now. But now once we step into this ring, I got a job to do. Still, it’s a lot to take in.”
That feeling followed him through the match. Hearing the crowd made it even harder because Styles knew there weren’t many minutes left in his wrestling career.
“But I remember also thinking to myself, ‘You’ve got a little bit longer to go.’ You know, thinking to myself, ‘It’s almost over. When the crowd’s making noise, you definitely don’t want that to end.’”
Then came the moment that had everyone talking. After losing to Gunther, Styles looked like he was about to leave his gloves in the ring. Instead, he put them back on, saluted the crowd and walked away—and Styles now says there was a very specific reason for it.
“I know a lot of people were confused about this moment, but I knew that WWE is gonna be in Atlanta three weeks from this moment.”
Styles had already figured out that Atlanta would give him one more opportunity to say goodbye. That meant he could save the symbolic glove drop for another night instead of doing everything at the Royal Rumble. Here’s the part nobody knew at the time: this wasn’t some WWE-planned retirement angle. Styles says the entire idea existed only in his head.
“It would have been a good opportunity for me to drop my gloves then. So that’s why. Nobody else knew about this except for me.”
That little decision worked exactly as you’d expect. Fans immediately started wondering whether Styles had changed his mind about retirement, and some even accused him of pulling the classic wrestling retirement fake-out. Styles knew exactly what people were saying. He just wanted one more goodbye.
“A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, he’s still not… Okay, he’s a liar, he’s not going to retire. Typical AJ,’ but one more chance to say goodbye.”
So Styles wasn’t secretly setting up another match when he put those gloves back on. He already knew WWE would be in Atlanta three weeks later, wanted another chance to say goodbye, and simply decided to keep that plan to himself.
What did you think when AJ Styles put his gloves back on at the Royal Rumble? Did you think he was backing out of retirement? Let us know in the comments.
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