Karl Anderson: AJ Styles Told Me Backstage At WWE Raw That His Neck Is ‘Hurting Too Bad,’ Wants To Help Next Generation Of Wrestlers

Anderson does a tell-all about his experience at AJ Styles’ tribute show.

The latest episode of Monday Night Raw on Netflix was centered around AJ Styles. Styles has officially wrapped up his in-ring career after his loss to GUNTHER at the Royal Rumble Premium Live Event.

Styles was celebrated throughout the night, and among those in attendance were his family, Frankie Kazarian, The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson), and more.

Anderson opened up about being back in WWE for Styles’ tribute show on the newest episode of Talk’n Shop. Anderson brought up his past comments about believing Styles would wrap up at WWE and either head to AEW or TNA. Anderson did not think Styles would actually finish his career at WWE.

“AJ Styles has officially retired from the WWE. WWE did a full-blown tribute show for AJ Styles. I got questions for the last couple of weeks. I’ve gotten questions since the Royal Rumble. People have asked constantly, ‘What is AJ gonna do? Where is AJ gonna go?’ And I have some opinions. I had some opinions. I had some takes. I have some takes. If you remember, I said this is exactly what I said I thought was gonna happen. I said, ‘AJ Styles is gonna leave the WWE, and go to AEW, or TNA, or go work.’ I did not think that he was going to finish up in the WWE. I did not think so, and like I said, we don’t speak much. Love you dude. I love you dude. He helped me a lot in my life. I look up to AJ Styles, I look up to Allen Jones. I look up to him. He’s a great human, he’s a great wrestler. He taught me a lot about business, he taught me a lot about pro wrestling…

That was just my opinion. I did not expect AJ Styles to wind down and we haven’t spoke, right? So I see GUNTHER finishes off AJ Styles in Saudi Arabia at the Royal Rumble. I thought, wow. I mean, with clean win. A clean win. Alright, well then, maybe he’s not a WWE guy, even though he is now but I’m talking about my opinion before that. Maybe they don’t look at him as a WWE guy… Clearly, I was wrong.”

Anderson spoke about him and Gallows getting the phone call about the tribute show. They had to think about it and did not answer immediately. It was in February 2025 that The Good Brothers were released from WWE for a second time.

The agreement for them to be at Styles’ tribute show did not come together until three days before Monday Night Raw.

“All of a sudden, a number text messages me and (Doc) Gallows’ phone, Monday night or Tuesday afternoon or whatever it was and it was like, ‘Hey, hey, we’re gonna do an AJ Styles tribute show. The Good Brothers are wanted Monday in Atlanta for the AJ Styles tribute show’ and we said, ‘Hold on a second. We aren’t ready for all that.’ They said, ‘Think about it.’ Wednesday, we got another text message that said, ‘Have you thought about it yet?’ We said, ‘We gotta think about it a little more.’ Thursday comes around, they got a text they sent out, another text message and said, ‘Have you thought about it?’ I gave ‘em a call, and I told ‘em a couple of things that I was just thinking about. They were amazing. They told me, ‘Hey, hey, think about it.’ Friday comes, they asked if we had thought about it. We said, ‘We just need to keep continuing thinking about it.’ Saturday comes around, our point of contact says, ‘Hey guys, have you thought about it?’ Big L.G. picks up the phone, gives our contact a call and the deal was struck.”

Anderson would go on to state that he and Gallows were hesitant about it, but they showed up for Styles. Anderson would add that they began to feel comfortable once they saw familiar faces.

“Were (Doc) Gallows and I a little trepidacious about walking back in the arena? Ahh-hah. Were we dying to walk back in the arena? Ahn-ahn. Did we walk back in that arena for AJ Styles? Yes.”

At the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, was the first time Anderson had seen Styles in person since The Good Brothers were cut from WWE. He said their interaction was caught on camera, as Anderson was doing an interview for WWE beforehand.

“So I had not seen AJ Styles yet. I walked by his room and I didn’t wanna walk into his locker room. I didn’t know who was in there. I didn’t know what he was doing. Finally, I see a camera guy is talking to me. He wants to get an interview. I start doing an interview with the WWE camera crew. AJ Styles is walking down the hallway. We have our first official meeting in the building in over a year, right on camera. First time that we’d seen each other (since) we left the WWE over a year ago. So if a documentary comes out, or if it ever goes on YouTube, or whatever they do with it, you’ll see that first official meeting is the first time we’d seen each other and it’s legitimately on camera.”

After Styles was surprised with the news of his 2026 WWE Hall of Fame induction, Anderson caught up with Styles backstage.

Anderson shared that Styles told him that his neck is hurting, and he also wants to help the next generation of wrestlers. Anderson admitted to Styles that he’d been saying on the podcast that Styles would not be finishing his career at WWE.

“We get to the back, I said, ‘AJ! I did not know you were really gonna retire.’ He goes, ‘Really!?’ I said, ‘Yeah. What do you mean ‘really,’ AJ? We haven’t spoke. How am I supposed to know if you’re really gonna retire or not?’ And he said, ‘Dude, I have to. My neck is hurting too bad. I’m beat up. It’s time. I want to help the next generation,’ and I go, ‘Well, I didn’t really believe it. So I just kept talking on my podcast about how you were not gonna retire, and you’re gonna go here and you’re gonna go there, and now, I gotta eat a lot of crow, pal.’”

The Undertaker broke the news to Styles that he’ll be going into the WWE Hall of Fame. Back in the fall of 2025, The Undertaker revealed to Stephanie McMahon that she would be going into the Hall of Fame in 2026.

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