AJ Styles Makes Surprising Claim After WWE Retirement: “They Don’t Mean Anything”
AJ Styles retired at the WWE Royal Rumble 2026. His last match saw him lose to Gunther. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame’s class of 2026.
Following his retirement, Styles launched a podcast called The Phenomenally Retro Podcast, where he discusses wrestling and other topics.
In a new episode of the podcast, Styles took some fan questions. A fan pointed out that Styles had only secured one singles victory at a PLE throughout his tenure with the company. The fan then asked Styles if winning or losing in WWE affects how fans perceive wrestlers.
AJ Styles Says Wins And Loses Don’t Mean Anything In WWE
In response, AJ Styles said that winning or losing doesn’t matter in WWE because it is a sports entertainment business, not the UFC.
“Sometimes you’re not the story in the match. You’re just in the match. To tell you the truth, you probably wouldn’t remember whether or not I win or lost unless somebody went through and wrote it all down because it’s not that important. Guys win and lose all the time. So it’s best served where it’s at in the story. That’s what means the most to me. I couldn’t care less about wins and losses. They don’t mean anything. This is a show. This is pure entertainment. This isn’t the UFC. That’s the biggest difference.”
He stated that his job as a veteran in the business was to put over newer talent, whether young or old, and that is exactly what he did. He added that he was not concerned with winning or losing matches, but only with fulfilling his role.
“Definitely the older I got, my job wasn’t to be the heavyweight champion of the world. Some people want that. Some people need that. I don’t. I didn’t. So my job was to make sure I get the younger talent over as well, if I could. If they were older, who cares? I had a job to do. Unless I had a better idea of how to do it, then there’s no point in saying anything. Do your job. It’s like I’m not as concerned with that as much as the fans were.”
Styles is currently signed to WWE in a non-wrestling role. His job is to scout talent around the world and mentor talent in NXT.