AJ Styles crushes AEW switch rumors: ‘I make my own choices’
AJ Styles has opened up and addressed the ongoing speculation around a possible AEW switch from WWE.
At Royal Rumble 2026, 10 years after his debut, Gunther defeated Styles to retire him from in-ring action. A few weeks later on RAW, Styles was presented with a tribute by WWE before being inducted into the 2026 class of the Hall of Fame. Recently speaking on Talk N Shop Live!, Styles addressed the rumors of WWE possibly inducting him into the Hall of Fame to stop him from joining AEW.
“Let me give you something to talk about. So, everybody wants to say, ‘Oh! WWE put him [AJ Styles] in the Hall of Fame so that he couldn’t go to AEW.’ Guys, I am retired from wrestling in the ring. Like, that’s all this is. I make my own choices, I make my own decisions. I was ready.“
He further explained that he was on the verge of staying on the “table for too long” and wanted to beat the house, which he did by hanging up his boots.
Styles, 48, stepped down from a decades-long pro-wrestling career that began in 1998 and has now finished in 2026.
On the same YouTube live video, Styles noted that he would still be working with WWE in the future, crushing all the rumors about his AEW jump.
“I am still going to be working with WWE. That’s not going to change. I have these dreams of helping out young talent. If somebody is not ready once they get there, it’s my job to hopefully help them get to that point to where they can do it, and they are confident when they step into a WWE ring. Being able to help with that is a blessing.”
Shounak Chakrabarti is an experienced sports journalist with a lifelong passion for athletics and storytelling. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and joined F4WOnline in 2025.
Shounak takes particular interest in soccer, closely following top clubs like Real Madrid and Arsenal. Beyond sports, he enjoys fiction writing, photography, gaming, and cinema.