AJ Styles’ Next Role for WWE Confirmed by Triple H

AJ Styles' sudden retirement from wrestling caught everyone besides himself and those close to him by surprise.

Styles faced Gunther with his career on the line at the Royal Rumble earlier this year and lost, becoming the third superstar Gunther retired in less than eight months. Styles believed the time was right, and was ready to leave the business he had given so much to.

However, his itch to remain involved in the wrestling business has remained. The two-time WWE World Champion still wants to continue giving to the business that he got so much from for almost two decades.

Triple H recently spoke with Cody Rhodes on his What Do You Wanna Talk About? podcast to elaborate on what role Styles will have with WWE going forward.

AJ Styles wants in on the business

Styles is one of the greatest in-ring generals in pro wrestling history. His spot in the WWE Hall of Fame was nothing but a formality; his status has been solidified for years now.

The knowledge he holds does not retire with his body, and there is plenty of wisdom he can pass on to the next generation of WWE superstars. And after his retirement, Styles and Triple H collaborated on narrowing down what it is Styles wants to do.

" And I think he realized like, the writing thing’s not for me, the producer thing, I don’t think is for me. What I really like is getting to these young kids and spotting talent and then trying to help fan the flames of the little spark that’s there and try to make them into something more, the developmental side of it."
Triple H on what AJ Styles wants

In recent years, WWE has invested heavily in finding college athletes or young Olympians to mold the next generation. The company has found it beneficial to find athletes with little to no wrestling experience and then develop them into their own kind of superstar. Perhaps this is the type of role Triple H is alluding to for Styles, or perhaps a training role at the Performance Center.

Styles was done with wrestling

Any shreds of uncertainty Styles had left about wrestling before retiring evaporated at the Royal Rumble. Gunther was on a warpath to end another legendary pro wrestling career, and he succeeded. Styles knew that it was time to hang up the boots during the match with Gunther.

"At the end, AJ was like, ‘I don’t want to be done with the business. I want to be done wrestling.’...But even in his last match, he was telling me like, ‘I so know I’m done because I was out there in that last match thinking like, let’s just get [it] over with, I just want to get to the end."
Triple H

It's wild for fans to think Styles has nothing left to give in the squared circle. It's clear that he, even today, is still better than many wrestlers on the WWE roster. Styles' next role with WWE is going to have him doing everything he can to make the next wave of WWE superstars better than he is.