AJ Styles’ wife Wendy sends emotional message after WWE retirement
The phenomenal times are just beginning for AJ Styles following his apparent in-ring retirement.
Just days after his WWE career was ended by Gunther at the Royal Rumble, Styles appeared on a new edition of Stephanie McMahon’s “What’s Your Story?” podcast. The episode included McMahon reading a letter from Styles’ wife Wendy Jones congratulating her husband on all that he’s accomplished and looking ahead to the next stage of their lives together.
Wendy wrote:
- To my loving husband whom I call Allen and the world calls ‘The Phenomenal AJ Styles,’
- Growing up, who knew I would marry a wrestler? Sure, I would watch wrestling with my grandmother but I never had a desire to marry one. Well, we paid for our small wedding with money made by your short stint in the WCW when you started chasing this dream. You always told me to trust you that you would make it. Never once did you doubt yourself. As your bride, I trusted you and even encouraged you to go when the WWE came knocking very early in your career. I believe that required you to move to Cincinnati. I was in college at the time. As a young married couple, you refused. You chose me. Even when I was pushing you to go, you politely declined the offer.
- You always said we would do this together and not apart. Together we have. You have traveled the world wrestling and conquered what many only dream of accomplishing. You have put God and your family first in this business. I truly believe God opened every door and allowed not just you but our family to walk through them. For that, I am eternally grateful. You wanted to beat the house. Well, you did. A phenomenal career. Four amazing and individually gifted kids. And a loving, always supportive wife who has stood beside you the entire time. You won, come home. The phenomenal times are just beginning. I love you, babe.
Styles reacted to the letter by saying that he would be “nothing” without Wendy. Now that he’ll be home more often, he’s looking forward to doing things they couldn’t do before like going for morning walks and working out together.
The podcast episode also included messages from Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Damian Priest, Shinsuke Nakamura, Xavier Woods, Abyss, Sami Zayn, The Miz, and Finn Balor congratulating Styles on his career. Balor became emotional while reflecting on all that Styles has meant to him:
- I feel so happy for him that he’s able to retire with his health. And AJ, I just want to say congratulations on such an incredible career. From a personal standpoint, I want to say thank you because you’ve always been such a constant source of inspiration for me. And I know we’ve had very similar career paths, but I hope you know that I’ve always, always looked up to you. For me, you are the benchmark for what it is to be a professional both inside and outside of the ring. I’m very grateful that I got the opportunity to share the last 10 years with you here in this company. I know we kind of dodged each other a lot on the indies. You were in TNA, I was in Japan. When you came to Japan, I went to NXT. So we missed each other for a long time. But I feel like getting to know you over the last 10 years on a personal level and in the ring and just witnessing how great and phenomenal you really are — I want to say thank you for being AJ Styles.
Despite losing his retirement match, it’s possible that Styles could return to the ring at least one more time in the future. Styles said on “What’s Your Story?” that he thinks every wrestler reserves the right to come out of retirement once. If one of his sons becomes a wrestler, having a tag match with him is something that Styles could be interested in.
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.