AJ Styles Shares Tearful Moment With Female WWE Star Backstage: “I Love You”

AJ Styles became good friends with a lot of people in WWE, including one of the biggest women’s wrestlers in the company.

Future WWE Hall of Famer AJ Styles made his WWE debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble after being a World Champion in TNA and NJPW. In WWE, Styles was a 2-time WWE Champion and held numerous other titles throughout his career.

At the WWE Royal Rumble in Riyadh, AJ Styles put his career on the line against Gunther and lost the match to the “Career Killer” after passing out to the dreaded Sleeper.

Even though Styles was still having great matches at the end of his career, he felt it was the right time to retire after spending over 25 years as a professional wrestler.

In a WWE Vlog shown on the company’s YouTube channel, Styles was seen backstage hugging several of his friends in the company. Among them was former Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley, who told Styles she loved him, and he said he loved her too. They are 20 years apart in age, a reminder of how pro wrestlers are like family, given the time they spend performing in the business they love.

For Styles, he admitted that he enjoyed seeing many superstars grow up over the years.

“These guys I’ve spent 10 years with. They’re guys and girls that I’ve seen grow as performers. Like, I think about like Liv and the first time I met her and how young she was, dude. Like, it’s, there’s a reason why they call me Uncle Al, right? Like, I’m the older guy that is very protective of a lot of people here.

You know, just, I wanna make sure that everybody’s taken care of and everybody’s stood up for and just seeing how much they’ve grown. And so, I’m so excited for them. As Nattie Had said in her book, you gotta beat the house. You’re gambling on yourself, and you hope to beat the house. But if you stay at the table too long, you will lose.”

AJ Styles And CM Punk Had A Turbulent Relationship

There aren’t many WWE superstars close in age to the 48-year-old AJ Styles, but current World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk began his pro wrestling career around the same time as Styles, over 25 years ago.

While speaking on the WWE Vlog about his retirement, Styles discussed his past issues with Punk and said they are in a much better place now.

“I don’t think he understands how much it means to me because we had some rough times, him and I. It really bothered me because we were so close at one point. Then, you got caught up in your bubbles and stuff like that, miscommunication. It sucks.

We are living proof that live and learn, forget, forgive, move on, life’s too short to be angry with each other over stupid things. Me and Punk don’t think a lot of the same things but that doesn’t separate us from being friends and being appreciative of each other. It’s so stupid to live like that, I wish everybody could understand that.

We’re going to have differences, we’re not going to agree on everything but we can agree to be civil. We both said things in the past that we wish we could take back. With that being said, I’m so thankful for that match tonight. Canada of all places was amazing.”

The match in Canada was the main event of Raw on January 26th, when Styles challenged Punk for the World Title in a great match that was ruined by Finn Balor’s interference. It was AJ’s final match on Raw.

Since the February 23rd episode of Raw is in Atlanta, WWE will celebrate AJ Styles’ legendary career in his home state of Georgia, with plenty of family and friends in attendance.

Also read: AJ Styles had a different plan for WWE retirement