Gunther Reveals Why Retiring AJ Styles Felt More Important to Him Than John Cena’s Last Match

Gunther has revealed why sending AJ Styles into retirement was more important to him than when he did the same with John Cena.

Gunther Reveals Why Retiring AJ Styles Felt More Important to Him Than John Cena’s Last Match

Gunther retired both AJ Styles and John Cena via his sleeper hold [via- WWE]

In Short
  • Gunther feels retiring AJ Styles was more significant to him than John Cena's last match due to his admiration for Styles.
  • He viewed AJ Styles as a representation of an era in wrestling that influenced his own career.
  • Gunther's victory over Cena in his final match was emotionally charged, making him a polarizing figure among fans.

The career-killer arc of Gunther hasn’t been every wrestling fan’s favorite trope, but it certainly means a lot to the man himself. While he has retired the likes of Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles all within a span of just over 6 months, sending Styles packing into retirement holds more significance for him over even someone like Cena.

‘The Ring General’ recently sat down to rewatch his most villainous moments in WWE on WWE Retrospective. While coming across the legendary names he has retired over the last year, Gunther explained why ending Styles’ in-ring career felt almost more important than Cena’s. It’s because AJ was someone whom the Austrian looked up to.

Gunther saw parallels in his and Styles’ careers. Acknowledging the fascinating decade-long run that AJ had with WWE, the erstwhile Walter stressed that most of the stuff that wrestling fans revere him for came before he made his WWE debut in 2016. ‘The Career Killer’ viewed the Georgia native as someone who represented an era of wrestling that Gunther himself came up with.

The Vienna-born wrestler revealed being an avid follower of AJ Styles‘ stint in NJPW, which helped Gunther take notes of where he needed to fine-tune himself in his struggling days. And that’s why the former NXT UK Champion has always had much respect for Styles’ work. The two of them squared off in Riyadh at the Royal Rumble PLE with AJ’s career on the line.

While everyone in the arena was rooting for the 48-year-old to win and continue wrestling, it didn’t happen as Gunther put him to sleep. It felt more important, from a wrestler purist’s heart, to retire Styles from this business than to make John Cena tap out in his final match.

‘The Ring General’ also talked about how emotionally charged that night was at Saturday Night’s Main Event in Washington, DC, where the ‘Cenation Leader’ bowed out. Gunther was the single most hated name in wrestling considering he was going against arguably the greatest babyface that WWE has ever had. The utter disbelief in the arena over Cena tapping out felt like the biggest achievement to Gunther.

He said he’s going to annoy the wrestling fans for the rest of his life by reminding them that he made their hero give up. Gunther also stated that the backstage ambience in Cena’s last match felt heavier and more tense than it would feel at WrestleMania because of how emotionally invested everyone was.

How does Gunther feel about retiring Goldberg?

One icon that Gunther retired and was not always on his hit list was Bill Goldberg. In the aforementioned episode of WWE Retrospective, the 38-year-old recalled the catastrophic appeal of Goldberg that pulled Gunther into his matches back in the day. ‘The Terminator’ revealed that Triple H had asked him almost a year in advance if he’d like to wrestle the WCW great, and he was very receptive to it.

Goldberg and Gunther
Goldberg and Gunther [via- WWE]

The latter just wanted to give the WWE Hall of Famer the best match he’s ever had. It felt surreal to Gunther once it dawned upon him that he was going to stand across from the same legend that he used to play as in Nintendo 64 with his friends. ‘The Ring General’ appreciated that his Goldberg showdown took place at Saturday Night’s Main Event, as it screamed an old-school proposition to him.

Gunther underscored how the partisan crowd in Atlanta that night wanted Goldberg to beat him for the world title. The erstwhile Walter, however, put ‘Da Man’ to sleep after a fairly lengthy contest. Gunther said that match did a lot for his career and hoped for Bill to be able to look back at it and be proud of his performance.

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