On January 31, 2026, wrestling fans around the world could very well witness the final match in the career of "The Phenomenal"AJ Styles. The former WWE Champion will go one-on-one with Gunther at the Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, where if Styles loses he will be forced to retire, something that many people expected at some point this year but were unsure as to when Styles would hang up his boots.
Styles confirmed in September 2025 that he would be retiring in the coming months, even being unsure as to whether he would still be an active performer by the time WrestleMania 42 rolls around in April. News of his contract potentially expiring in February has been well-documented. His opponent at the most recent Saturday Night's Main Event show, Shinsuke Nakamura, hinted that Styles would be retired by the end of the month, and the man himself has always had one eye on spending more time with his family as the years have passed him by.
Nothing is ever concrete in wrestling, and Styles could very well beat Gunther at the Royal Rumble and continue wrestling well into 2026 and beyond, but all signs point to "The Phenomenal One" having one last dance on January 31, meaning that there is no better time to look back on Styles' 27-year career than now.
Styles has had one of the most decorated and illustrious careers of his generation. He is one of the most important wrestlers of the 21st century, inspiring a who's who of stars across the world to become wrestlers themselves. Just look at any Will Ospreay match in AEW, and you'll see the Styles influence everywhere. Trying to celebrate such an impactful career in a strict set of words will be tricky, but he absolutely deserves it. This is the phenomenal career of AJ Styles.
Growing up in Gainesville, Georgia, Allen Jones was a fan of professional wrestling and was extremely active when it came to sports. Unlike some people who believe wrestling is their destiny, AJ wasn't dead set on making it big in wrestling, and only went to a wrestling school with two old friends of his because it was close to his house, and he had no excuse not to go. However, once he got into the ring and realized that wrestling was something he was good at, the man we know now as AJ Styles was officially born.
Debuting at the tail end of the 1990s, Styles wrestled primarily for the NWA Wildside promotion in Georgia, where he quickly rose up the ranks and ended up crossing paths with the likes of Sabu, The Jung Dragons, and even a young R-Truth when he was known as K-Krush. It was in NWA Wildside where Styles would meet someone who would be very important to his early career, Air Paris, with the two having a number of standout matches against each other that WCW took notice of.
Styles initially turned down a contract offer from WCW in 2000 as he actually made money splitting his time between sporadic indie dates and being a water delivery man, but Styles and Paris were brought into WCW in 2001 as the company was trying to breathe new life into its Cruiserweight division.However, just as Paris and Styles started to turn heads as Air Raid, WCW was purchased by WWE, and both men went back to square one.
Styles would compete in a number of dark matches for WWE in 2001 and early 2002 and seemed to impress officials as he was offered a developmental contract, which would have earned him $500 per week. However, Styles would turn the offer down for one main reason: he didn't want to move his wife to Cincinnati, Ohio, as she was still finishing her college degree to become a teacher. Styles didn't know if he would ever get an opportunity to wrestle for WWE again, but his turning down that contract was the single best decision he would ever make.
A few months after turning down an offer from WWE and bouncing around the independent scene, AJ Styles signed on to become a member of the NWA-TNA roster in June 2002. Right from the start, Styles was seen as a future main event player, but his innovative offense made him a perfect fit for the company's "X-Division," where it wasn't about weight limits, it was about no limits.
The X-Division was designed to be the updated version of WCW's cruiserweight division, and Styles became the poster child for that division. He was the inaugural TNA X-Division Champion and quickly became one of the most exciting acts in all of wrestling in the early 2000s, earning himself the nickname "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles in the process. While he would frequently hop from division to division, winning both the NWA Worlds Heavyweight and Worlds Tag Team Championships, it was his work in the X-Division that arguably put TNA Wrestling on the map as a promotion.
A six-time TNA X-Division Champion, second only to Chris Sabin for number of reigns with the title, his matches with the likes of Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, Petey Williams, the aforementioned Chris Sabin, and so many others made TNA a must-see promotion in the 2000s. Without Styles leading the X-Division, there's a chance TNA doesn't get on to Spike TV in late 2005. Styles' matches from this time period need to be seen to be believed, particularly his bouts with Daniels and Joe that are considered some of the best in TNA history, but everyone knew Styles would have to move up to the heavyweight division at some point, and while the X-Division still exists to this day, it has never reached the heights of when Styles was the crown jewel.
By the start of 2008, AJ Styles was a legitimate main event draw for TNA. He was routinely mixing it up with the likes of Christian Cage, Sting, Kurt Angle, and many more, and while he had already become a Grand Slam Champion in TNA by holding every title that was on offer at least once, it wasn't until the end of the 2000s that the company truly put their trust in him.
At TNA's No Surrender pay-per-view in September 2009, Styles won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time (the NWA lineages didn't cross over after 2007), and there was an immediate uptick in interest for the company. He very nearly retired Sting at that year's Bound For Glory event, had a heavyweight version of the Unbreakable three-way bout with Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, and even had Ric Flair managing him for a brief time when TNA tried to compete with "WWE Raw" on Monday nights. Styles had already been given the award of "Mr. TNA" by the fans for three consecutive years between 2003 and 2005, but it was this time that he truly was the face of the promotion.
His success wasn't insular either as in 2010, Styles became the first TNA wrestler in history to top Pro Wrestling Illustrated's PWI500 list, beating the likes of JohnCena, Randy Orton, and CM Punk to the top spot, making him the first non-WWE wrestler to top the list since Dean Malenko who was number one in 1997 when he worked for WCW. To this day, no TNA wrestler has ever topped the list outside of Styles, who would go on to be named PWI's "Wrestler of the Decade" in 2020.
Styles would hold the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for a second time, but that reign came during a very dark time for "The Phenomenal One."
In 2013, AJ Styles was a lone wolf in TNA Wrestling to the point where that became his new nickname after rejecting an invitation to join Aces & Eights, but he didn't see eye-to-eye with the promotion as a whole. He was still as phenomenal as ever in between the ropes (pun very much intended) as he would win the 2013 Bound For Glory series to earn a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match at Bound For Glory, where he would dethrone Bully Ray to become the new champion. However, that reign would only last for nine days because those promotional issues were very much real.
Styles' TNA contract had expired in August 2013, and was working on a handshake agreement as negotiations went on behind the scenes. When Styles publicly declined TNA President Dixie Carter's contract offer, he was stripped of his title, and while this was portrayed as a storyline, fans knew something wasn't right. Styles would return a few weeks later, claiming to be the real TNA World Heavyweight Champion, as he was never beaten for the belt, which actually led to him defending his title in both AAA and Wrestle-1 in Mexico and Japan respectively, after Carter stripped him of the title.
"The Phenomenal One"would have an Undisputed TNA World Heavyweight Championship match against Magnus at a "TNA Impact"taping in December 2013, which he would lose, and that ended up being his final match for the company. Negotiations completely broke down between Styles and the company, with Styles admitting that he was asked to take a 60% pay cut to do the same amount of work. After nearly 12 years of being "Mr. TNA" to a lot of people, AJ Styles was a free agent, and he needed to reignite his passion for wrestling elsewhere.
Once his TNA contract expired, AJ Styles didn't waste any time in keeping himself busy as he dove head first back into the independent scene, wrestling the likes of Chris Hero, Cedric Alexander, and Drew Gulak less than a month after his final match for TNA aired on TV. However, he did have one promotion that he could call home, one that he was already very familiar with; Ring of Honor.
Styles had already wrestled for ROH during the 2000s, even defeating CM Punk to become the inaugural ROH Pure Champion in 2004, as well as winning the ROH Tag Team Championships with The Amazing Red. Those ROH dates started to slow down for Styles as he focused mainly on his work with TNA, but with no ties to any promotion at the time, Styles returned to ROH in 2014 and immediately became a main event player. He wasn't exactly the lone wolf that he was towards the end of his time in TNA, but he carried with him a hunger and drive that made people stand up and take notice, this was a version of AJ Styles who had something to prove; that he was still one of the best in the world.
While he didn't win any gold during his second run with ROH, he did win gold elsewhere. He had a cup of coffee with the FWE World Heavyweight Championship, being the final champion as Family Wrestling Entertainment folded shortly after Styles won the title. He would also win the PPW Tag Team Championships alongside Tommy Suede, and would even have a seven month reign as the RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion, before being beaten in January 2016 by Zack Sabre Jr..
Ring of Honor might have been his home promotion in the United States, but between 2014 and 2016, AJ Styles called New Japan Pro Wrestling his home.
Having made appearances in NJPW through a working relationship TNA had with the company in the 2000s, Styles made his return to NJPW at the Invasion Attack event in April 2014. He attacked IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, vowed to take his title, and revealed himself as the newest member of Bullet Club on the same night that Prince "Finn Balor" Devitt was leaving the faction and the company. Everyone knew Styles would fit in perfectly with the main event scene in NJPW, but not many people expected him to reach the heights he did in the company, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Okada in his first match since signing with the company on a full-time basis.
From there, Styles became the unofficial leader of Bullet Club, taking the faction to a level of popularity never before seen for a Japanese faction. It naturally helped that Styles, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Doc Gallows, and Karl Anderson routinely made appearances in North America, but Bullet Club with Styles as the focal point was a cultural juggernaut that became the most talked-about group in all of wrestling.
Styles would have two reigns with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, had classic bouts with the aforementioned Okada as well as Kota Ibushi, Minoru Suzuki, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Shinsuke Nakamura, and solidified himself as the best wrestler in the world. "The Phenomenal One" looked to have reached his final form, he was untouchable in Japan to the point where people still cite his NJPW run as his finest work. However, the trips to Japan would take their toll, and the United States came calling once again, only this time, it was WWE.
Almost 14 years after originally turning the company down, AJ Styles finally made his official WWE debut as the third entrant in the 2016 Royal Rumble match. He wrapped up his time in NJPW with an all-time classic against Shinsuke Nakamura, who would be in WWE himself just a few months later. He said goodbye to Bullet Club and Ring of Honor curtain call-style, and strolled down the WWE entrance way for the first time to the sheer delight of those in attendance. Styles didn't actually know if he was going to get a reaction from the WWE Universe as he was unsure if anyone had seen him in TNA, ROH, or NJPW, but by the time he was eliminated, he was the only person anyone was talking about.
Following the Royal Rumble, "The Phenomenal One" went on to have one of the greatest first years that anyone has had in WWE, or in any company for that matter. Names like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar are always brought up when it comes to the conversation of "greatest rookie years in WWE," but Styles ranks right up there as by the end of 2016, he was "The Face That Runs The Place."
He would make his WrestleMania debut in April, facing off in a dream match with Chris Jericho, before following that up with a pair of WWE World Championship matches against Roman Reigns that are still considered some of the best matches of Reigns' time as "The Big Dog." In the summer of 2016, Styles did what many long-time fans of his thought was unthinkable and beat John Cena on pay-per-view not once, but twice, and then went on to reach the pinnacle of the business in the fall by dethroning Dean Ambrose to become the WWE Champion. Styles would celebrate his one-year anniversary in the company by walking into the 2017 Royal Rumble as the WWE Champion to face John Cena in one of the greatest WWE matches of the decade. Not bad for a first year.
At one point in time, the thought of AJ Styles being synonymous with a company not named TNA seemed inconceivable, and yet he has gone on to spend an entire decade in WWE, cementing himself as one of the greatest WWE Superstars of the modern era. He already had the love of the fans before he got to WWE, and was regarded as the single best wrestler in the world during his time in NJPW, but Styles didn't slow down after his first year in WWE and has been leaving the jaws of fans on the floor ever since.
Not only did he end 2016 as the WWE Champion, but he also ended 2017 as the WWE Champion as he dethroned Jinder Mahal on an episode of "WWE SmackDown Live" in November. This would be the start of a 371-day reign as champion, making him one of only five men since the turn of the millennium to hold the WWE Championship for more than one year. Styles has also had three reigns with the WWE United States Championship, a solitary run with the WWE Intercontinental Championship that started with arguably the greatest match of the COVID-19 pandemic for WWE against Daniel Bryan, and became a WWE Grand Slam Champion at WrestleMania 37 in 2021 when he won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships alongside Omos.
Styles also has the unique distinction of being final man to wrestle The Undertaker, facing "The Deadman" in a Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, which finally gave Taker the much needed closure for his own career. If you had told AJ Styles when he was TNA X-Division Champion in the 2000s that he would be the man to effectively retire The Undertaker, he probably would have laughed at you, but "The Deadman" ranked Styles alongside Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart as one of the best performers he has ever seen, and was incredibly proud of that bout.
That all brings us to the present day, and unlike John Cena, who had nearly all of 2025 dedicated to his retirement run, Styles has quietly been having a stellar retirement run of his own.
Styles is worshipped like a God in France, of all places, as he is routinely serenaded by the audience whenever he goes there. He got to travel back to Japan to have a dream match with Naomichi Marufuji in Pro Wrestling NOAH, and he even made a long awaited return to TNA at Slammiversary 2025 to pass the ceremonial torch of the X-Division to Leon Slater, who currently reigns as the TNA X-Division Champion. In WWE, he's been able to run it back with old rivals like Shinsuke Nakamura and John Cena, he had gold around his waist as recently as the final week of 2025 alongside Dragon Lee as one half of the WWE World Tag Team Champions, and even attempted to have one final run at the top by facing CM Punk for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on "WWE Raw" in January 2026.
Now all that's left is "The Ring General," Gunther. A man who has beaten Styles one-on-one this year, and considering he was the man to retire John Cena, he's got a taste for killing careers, and Styles is next on his list. There is every chance that Styles wins this Saturday, or loses and continues wrestling somewhere else like TNA, NJPW, or even somewhere he's never been like AEW, but if this Saturday is the end, what a journey it has been.
From tagging along with some old friends to a wrestling school to hold up his end of an agreement, to becoming one of the greatest performers the wrestling business has ever seen, there will never be anyone quite as phenomenal as AJ Styles.
