Is AJ Styles planning to hang up his boots?
Failing to capture the Intercontinental Championship from Dominik Mysterio in Paris, AJ Styles recently dropped a major cryptic tease about his wrestling future.
Just a few hours before the September 5th SmackDown, 2025, in Chicago, The Phenomenal One uploaded an image on Instagram and teased his retirement. Uploading an image of an hourglass, Styles possibly signaled toward time slowing down as he moved toward his final in-ring appearance.
While it seems Styles might not just be done with Mysterio yet, he had earlier this year announced the 2025 SummerSlam PLE to be his last one.
Earlier today, Fightful Select also updated AJ Styles’ status. The report noted that Styles’ contract is set to expire in February 2026, after his deal was reportedly extended for one year, a few months ago. Styles has also expressed his desire to retire for some time now, but has not mentioned it lately.
Know More About AJ Styles’ Unfortunate SummerSlam Update
Earlier this year, appearing at the 2025 SummerSlam kick-off show, AJ Styles dropped a huge career update.
“If I’m being honest with you guys. This might be my last SummerSlam. So, I plan on tearing the house down one last time at SummerSlam for you guys.”
Earlier this year, AJ Styles had also shared a grateful statement about WWE’s recent collaboration with TNA Wrestling, and his again appearing at the promotion, which he helped build.
Tonight was the perfect night for me. It was an opportunity for me to come and see the fans face to face, something I haven’t done in a really long time, and WWE said, ‘Yeah, sure. Go do that.’ You don’t see that every day. So the opportunity just to come and visit and share some time with them is pretty amazing. I hope there’s something special as far as a match goes, but I can’t promise that. I can’t promise you tomorrow what’s gonna happen to me. I can tell you this: I was very excited. Even I had the butterflies tonight.”
In other news: The Main event of John Cena’s last SmackDown appearance revealed.