Triple H details conversations with AJ Styles after WWE retirement
AJ Styles knew he still wanted to contribute to WWE after retirement — he just had to find the behind-the-scenes role that was right for him.
This January, Styles retired from the ring with a loss to Gunther at Royal Rumble 2026. Styles has since reached a new contract with WWE for his post-wrestling career, where he helps talent behind the scenes along with scouting wrestlers for the company.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque appeared on a new episode of Cody Rhodes’ “What Do You Wanna Talk About?” podcast and detailed some of the discussions he had with Styles about retirement. At the end of his run, Styles was done in the ring and wanted to get that part of his career over with. Styles sat in on creative and production meetings to try those roles out, but they weren’t the ideal fit.
“At the end, AJ was like, ‘I don’t want to be done with the business. I want to be done wrestling.’ And I don’t think I’m betraying a confidence here,” Levesque said. “But even in his last match, he was telling me like, ‘I so know I’m done because I was out there in that last match thinking like, let’s just get [it] over with, I just want to get to the end.’
“He wants to participate in the business, right? But being an agent or a producer, it’s a different world. Being in what we do, there’s different fits for different people. AJ came in, he sat in on some creative meetings, he sat in on some production meetings. And I think he realized like, the writing thing’s not for me, the producer thing, I don’t think is for me. What I really like is getting to these young kids and spotting talent and then trying to help fan the flames of the little spark that’s there and try to make them into something more, the developmental side of it. So, great, let’s utilize him in that and grab those talents there.”
Levesque noted that he thinks Rhodes is another person who will still be able to make a big impact in WWE whenever he decides to step away from the ring.
“It’s your show and I’m not trying to blow smoke up your ass,” Levesque said. “You’re one of those guys that I believe as you come to the end of your career, it behooves you to start to pay attention to the other things.”
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.