AJ Styles told John Cena he doesn’t want WWE farewell tour
AJ Styles doesn’t plan to end his career in the same fashion that John Cena did.
Retirement is approaching for Styles with the 48-year-old WWE star announcing that he will step away from the ring at some point in 2026. A date has yet to be set for his final match, but Styles has already said farewell to Japan and Australia because he does not plan to make it back to those countries before his in-ring career ends.
Appearing on a new episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Cena recounted a conversation he had with Styles about retirement. Styles told Cena that he does not feel like he’s physically capable of delivering a full-fledged farewell tour.
“AJ Styles, such a great dude. I got to talk to him a little bit while we were locked in our program this year,” Cena said. “And I’m like, ‘Man, AJ, there’s a lot of people who really admire you out there. I know you’re thinking of calling it quits soon. Do you think that there’s any possibility you would try to do something like this? Because I honestly think people would pay to see you one last time.’
“He’s literally tying his shoes. He turns to me and goes, ‘Man, I’m 48.’ And as soon as the words left his mouth, he didn’t have to say anything else. It’s something about that late 40s, man, where he’s like, ‘I’m already overstaying my physical welcome. They just don’t see it. Because they don’t see what goes into prep, cooldown, recovery. I’m already riding that razor’s edge. You can’t tell.’ He still looks great, still does some great stuff. But he can’t stay another second because he doesn’t want to put out a product that isn’t AJ Styles.
“And the same goes for me. Like, yeah, this is why I’m going, because I can still give you what you want. I don’t want to walk away when I can’t. When people are like, ‘Man, I wish it had gone two years ago.’ We got one date left and we’ve done some entertaining stuff this year. And in doing so, I’ve used every effing trick I got in the book, but we made it.”
With both of their careers winding down, Cena and Styles got to face each other one last time at Crown Jewel: Perth this October. Cena — who got the win in their final meeting — praised Styles on Insight by calling him the “best to ever do it.”
Styles has said he doesn’t have post-wrestling plans locked in yet, but he expects to stay with WWE in a behind-the-scenes role like coaching.
Cena’s final match is taking place this weekend at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, D.C. He’s facing off against Gunther at the show.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.