As WrestleMania 41 rapidly approaches, a number of top WWE Superstars already have their respective paths to Las Vegas already mapped out. However, the same can't be said for AJ Styles as there have been multiple reports on what he might be doing, from a singles match with Finn Balor, to a WWE Intercontinental Championship against Bron Breakker. The reason for this could lie in the fact that WWE had to scrap their original plan for Styles when he suffered a serious injury back in October, and on a recent edition of "Wrestling ObserverRadio," Dave Meltzer revealed what that original plan was.
"The original idea for AJ before he got hurt was that he would be doing like kind of a farewell, and with a farewell it's kind of hard to go and be a heel for your farewell. But they haven't pushed the farewell this time, you know like last time they did, this time they haven't really pushed it." It was originally reported that the injury Styles suffered during his "WWE SmackDown"match with Carmelo Hayes was part of this storyline, but due to the injury being very real, Styles had to step away from the ring until the 2025 Royal Rumble where he made his return.
Styles has been open about potentially retiring, stating in 2024 that while he feels healthy, he doesn't want to get to the point where he feels like he needs to get out of the business, and would rather leave on his own terms to spend more time with his family. Not being retired was also the reason Styles turned down the chance to be inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame in 2024, as he doesn't want to be inducted while he's still active.
Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
