Doc Gallows: If They Say AJ Styles Is Retiring & There’s No Good Brother Involvement, Then He’s Lying About Retiring

The Good Brothers feel that if Styles is retiring and they’re not a part of it, he’s not really retiring.

It was stated by A.J. Styles that he will step away from in-ring competition in 2026. An exact timeframe of when Styles will wrap up his career has not been publicly shared.

His longtime friends, The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson), discussed Styles’ pending retirement on the newest episode of Talk’n Shop.

They don’t see Styles’ story coming to an end without them being involved in some form or fashion. Gallows said if Styles says he’s retiring but The Good Brothers aren’t involved, Styles is lying about it.

Anderson: “It’s a very valid question. With AJ Styles’ retirement coming up, I think people — it’s easy and it’s safe to say that AJ Styles’ storyline or whatever it is, inside the WWE, is obviously not complete without The Good Brothers. I’m not saying he needs us to come back or anything…”

Gallows: “That’s a buzz term in the business the last few years about the story being finished. But if there is a story to be finished, it does include The Good Brothers.”

Anderson: “We never say never about anything, and not even using the ‘never say never’ but we’re open for any talk, ever… I would be blown away — I would hope they clip this — I’d be blown away if AJ Styles goes to his final match — one, two, three — or his final appearance, and he leaves and he takes his boots off. He leaves them in the middle of the ring. He tells the fans worldwide on a platform to the world that he’s leaving professional wrestling, and that’s it and he walks out, goodbye, and there’s zero Good Brother involvement. I’m just saying, I feel like that would be very impossible… If that happens inside that WWE ring, I would say that AJ Styles is not finished.”

Gallows: “Well, that was my point… If they say AJ Styles is retired and there’s no Good Brother involvement, then he’s lying about retiring.”

Anderson: “Yeah, so that means that he will retire there, and then do whatever else he does. Maybe he does this or that and he doesn’t go wrestle away but at some point, there will be some kind of reunion somewhere else. But, if there’s a deal struck and there is some kind of –”

Gallows: “There’s always a deal to be struck.”

The Good Brothers’ latest WWE run lasted from October 2022 until they were released in February 2025. The duo was moved to the NXT brand for the backend of that run.

If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Talk’n Shop with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.