GUNTHER Chokes Out AJ Styles At 2026 Royal Rumble PLE, Styles Must Retire From WWE
Per the stipulation, Styles’ WWE career is over.
One of the matches on the bill at the 2026 WWE Royal Rumble Premium Live Event was a singles bout between AJ Styles and GUNTHER. GUNTHER only agreed to the match if Styles put his career on the line. Styles agreed to his stipulation. Their issues stemmed from how GUNTHER carried himself after retiring John Cena.
There was a point in the Styles/GUNTHER bout that GUNTHER low-blowed Styles and powerbombed him, but Styles kicked out.
GUNTHER began beating Styles down, and the referee had to keep checking on Styles. AJ fought back and strung together some offense, but GUNTHER ended up trapping him in a sleeperhold. Styles tried to fight out of it, but GUNTHER was persistent and choked Styles out.
Post-match, Styles took his gloves off and was going to leave them in the ring. Instead, he put the gloves back on and did his signature hand gesture to the crowd before leaving the ring. Styles then went back into the ring to sign off to the audience one last time.
It was in 2016 at the Royal Rumble where Styles debuted for WWE, and 10 years later, his WWE career came to an end at the Royal Rumble.
On the lead-up to the match, Styles specifically stated that his ‘WWE career’ would be over if he lost to GUNTHER. GUNTHER has now retired Goldberg, John Cena, and A.J. Styles.
