Ghost From Gunther’s Past Makes Big WWE Revelation: “That Wasn’t Up To Me”
In the past year, Gunther has retired multiple WWE legends like Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles.
AJ Styles, who the Ring General retired at the 2026 Royal Rumble, recently talked about facing Gunther in his last match during a recent edition of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast.
Chris asked Styles how he chose Gunther to be his final opponent, to which the Phenomenal One responded by saying that he is not the one who made the decision.
Chris: How did you get to Gunther being your final opponent?
Styles: That wasn’t up to me, it was up to the story. He had retired Goldberg, he had retired John Cena. Why not retire AJ Styles?”
AJ Styles On Gunther Putting Him To Sleep
AJ Styles was also asked about the finish of his retirement match, which saw him pass out to Gunther’s sleeper hold, to which Styles replied:
Chris: How much thought did you put into what that finish would look like? Because a month earlier, John Cena went out the same way, but John Cena tapped. You get the sleeper hold put on you, you pass out.
Styles: Yeah, but I think the whole thing with our match was that I made him tap out, but you weren’t gonna make me tap out, kind of deal, and I didn’t. Went out on my shield and almost had the ropes. But there was the moment there that AJ Styles couldn’t hold out any longer, his body had given up on him, his air supply was gone. Passes out.”
Fans were hoping to see WWE build upon Gunther’s momentum and have him retire more legends. However, Gunther’s Career Killer run has apparently been put on hold for now.
The Ring General is currently feuding with Nick Aldis in WWE. He’s scheduled to face the SmackDown General Manager at SummerSlam on August 1-2. Triple H recently made the match official at the WWE SummerSlam 2026 Kickoff event.