AJ Styles Receives a Fitting Tribute from Roman Reigns on His WWE Retirement

AJ Styles was pleasantly surprised to hear what Roman Reigns had to say about him on his WWE retirement.

AJ Styles Receives a Fitting Tribute from Roman Reigns on His WWE Retirement

AJ Styles and Roman Reigns [via- WWE]

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AJ Styles made an appearance on Stephanie McMahon‘s What’s Your Story? podcast as his first public interview since being forced to retire from WWE this past Saturday after losing a career-threatening match to Gunther.

While the entire conversation is worth listening to and includes tributes from many of Styles’ WWE colleagues, the Roman Reigns bit is making the rounds on social media. As seen below, the ‘OTC1’ hailed AJ for being a great in-ring worker and an awesome team player.

Reigns also acknowledged Styles’ inclination for video games. ‘The Tribal Chief’ praised ‘The Phenomenal One’ for turning out to be a great family man despite having gone through the arduous WWE schedule. Reigns talked fondly of the rivalry he’s had with AJ back in the day.

Hell of a worker. Hell of a teammate……….The discipline that he has. Being involved in professional wrestling. Being on the road but continuing to stay true to being a family man and being a father. Just happy that I was able to make some art with him when our time came a few years ago…………

Roman Reigns on AJ Styles’ WWE retirement via What’s Your Story? podcast

The Anoa’i family wrestler said it’d have been cool to do more with Styles and explore some new chapters in the process. The last time both Reigns and Styles were in the same match was two years ago at the Royal Rumble, where ‘The Head of the Table’ successfully retained his Undisputed WWE title in a Fatal-4-Way bout comprising AJ Styles.

Roman Reigns scored the pinfall on ‘The Face That Runs the Place’ to keep his title reign intact. Circling back to The OTC’s closing comments on ‘Mr. TNA’ in the aforementioned podcast, he said, “Big Allen, have fun and be safe, brother, and we’ll see you down the road.”

Elsewhere in the interview, the former Bullet Club leader addressed the noise around him, putting his gloves back on instead of leaving them in the ring after his loss to Gunther.

Styles said he didn’t know why he did that and used the “never say never” phrase to describe his future as an in-ring performer. While the Jacksonville-born wrestler couldn’t wrestle in WWE anymore, he has major interest from AEW should he become available to sign.

Seth Rollins credits AJ Styles for paving the way for wrestlers like him

The tributes for AJ Styles haven’t stopped pouring in over the last few days. Adding to that list is Seth Rollins. ‘The Visionary’ has claimed that he wouldn’t be in the position he’s in today if not for Styles. In a chat with Casey Buscher via TikTok, the 39-year-old said that AJ pioneered the wrestling style that helped Rollins make a career out of it.

AJ Styles and Seth Rollins
AJ Styles and Seth Rollins [via- WWE]

Growing up as a fan, ‘The Architect’ used to think that he might not be able to match the size of a Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, or The Ultimate Warrior, but names like Shawn Michaels and AJ Styles made Rollins believe that he could excel in an industry that historically thrived with big, hulking figures on top.

The former Shield member hailed ‘The Georgia Pitbull’ as a complete package, as he had it all in his repertoire. Styles and Rollins had some incredible one-on-one encounters, with their most recent bout coming way back in May 2023. They fought for the rechristened version of the then-introduced world heavyweight title after these men made it to the finals by virtue of going through a tournament.

The title showdown was staged at the Night of Champions PLE in Saudi Arabia. Having displayed chemistry that spellbound the fans, ‘The Drip God’ eventually outwrestled ‘The Phenomenal One’. It was one of those nights where the fans were firmly behind AJ Styles and wanted WWE to crown him as the World Heavyweight Champion.

The former OC leader hadn’t held a world title in the company since late 2018. What if Styles had won? The WWE Universe would’ve gotten to see glimpses of what AJ Styles was like in his prime years with the world title around his waist.

Even though 2023 was many years removed from when he was performing on SmackDown at the highest level, he could’ve still gone on to deliver based on how fiercely he wrestled over the last year or so, a period where he was pushing 50.

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