Ricochet Berates AJ Styles While Refuting Fan Theories of His AEW Switch After Royal Rumble Match with Gunther

The former NXT North American Champion has shot down the rumors of AJ Styles debuting for AEW.

Ricochet Berates AJ Styles While Refuting Fan Theories of His AEW Switch After Royal Rumble Match with Gunther

Ricochet and AJ Styles [via- WWE and WrestleZone]

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In just a few hours, AJ Styles will put his WWE career on the line against Gunther. Amid the fans going back-and-forth between being willing to accept that the 48-year-old might be done for but at the same time clinging to that glimmer of hope that Styles might keep it intact should he oust ‘The Ring General’ at the Royal Rumble, it’s been a tug-of-war of late.

Is there any possibility of AJ Styles joining All Elite Wrestling after ending his decade-long run with WWE today? Ricochet, a former WWE star who jumped ship to AEW in August 2024, doesn’t think so. The current AEW National Champion quoted a reply to a post on X wondering if Styles was AEW-bound soon. Ricochet berated ‘Mr. TNA’ by calling him old and scared. He asked the fans to not get their hopes up.

If the former IWGP Champion manages to combat Gunther, it’d kickstart his “Phenomenal retirement tour,” as proclaimed by ‘The Georgia Pitbull’ himself on SmackDown yesterday. Styles asked the Riyadh crowd to not worry about his retirement and wished to face names like Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and CM Punk once again before riding off into the sunset.

‘The Phenomenal One’ got interrupted by Gunther, who vowed to make Styles tap out and end his career just like John Cena. AJ then reminded the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion that he was the one who tapped out in their previous meeting that happened on Raw in Dusseldorf a few weeks ago.

Being hit with the truth bomb, the Austrian got off the commentary desk and made advances as if he were about to brawl with Styles. Gunther, however, ended up retreating and decided to walk away.

CM Punk and Triple H’s take on AJ Styles’ WWE career ending at the Royal Rumble

CM Punk has been quite outspoken about how badly he wants AJ Styles to not retire from WWE anytime soon. These men had a match on Raw this past Monday, where Punk defended his World Heavyweight title against Styles.

It had to end in a DQ when Finn Balor crashed the main event. WWE released some exclusive footage afterwards in which ‘The Best in the World’ could be heard expressing his true feelings about ‘The Phenomenal One’ risking his career against Gunther.

Triple H and CM Punk on AJ Styles
Triple H and CM Punk on AJ Styles [via- WWE]

Punk brought up that the WWE fans could lose both John Cena and AJ Styles in a two-month span. Punk and Styles had hugged it out in the ring on Raw after the show went off air. They didn’t always see eye to eye, so it was truly wholesome seeing them bury the hatchet once and for all. ‘The Second City Saint’ was on the Royal Rumble kickoff event yesterday before SmackDown.

The Chicago-born wrestler reaffirmed that Styles could indeed outclass ‘The Ring General’. Punk even said that ‘The Face That Runs the Place’ was his “second favorite AJ” in a heartfelt nod to his wife, AJ Lee, who is expected to come out as a surprise entrant in the women’s Royal Rumble match. AJ Styles has been on a tear over the past month or so, wrestling more rigorously than he has in a long time.

His most recent singles match with Shinsuke Nakamura at Saturday Night’s Main Event was hailed as the best they’ve had against each other in WWE. The company’s Chief Content Officer, Triple H, recently revealed during an interview with ESPN‘s UnSportsmanLike that ‘The Phenomenal One’ has given him a list of stars that he would like to wrestle.

‘The Game’ mentioned that Styles took offense to how Gunther has carried himself since retiring John Cena, and that’s why things have gotten to a point where the Jacksonville-born grappler’s career is at stake. ‘The Cerebral Assassin’, however, hoped that Styles keeps his WWE career alive and kicking.

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