RADICAN’S TAKE: A Farewell to Phenomenal Forearms, How A.J. Styles saved my fandom

It is hard to say goodbye to someone that played a big part in saving my wrestling fandom. In 2003 after Paul Heyman lost the book on Smackdown, I wasn’t sure where to turn for a satisfying fix of pro wrestling each week.sa I had been watching TNA in 2002 and I really liked A.J. Styles and the X Division, but the weekly PPVs were consistently filled with bad booking. It wasn’t enough to hook me. 

Then I heard Styles was in ROH after reading about the promotion in the PWTorch weekly newsletter. I did some research and found out ROH ran near me frequently in the Massachusetts area. The first ROH show I went to was Beating the Odds on Sept. 9, 2003. This was the first time I got to see A.J. Styles wrestle in person. I had watched some ROH shows before attending this event and I was hooked and the anticipation to see Styles wrestle built and built for me leading up to the show.

A lot of the TNA talent at the time also wrestled in ROH, but on this show I was in awe of some of the people I saw for the first time in person. Trent Acid pulled double duty that insight winning an awesome four-way tag on the undercard with his tag team partner in the Backseat Boyz Johnny Kashmere. Later in the show, Homicide wrestled the late Trent Acid and I was immediately as a big fan of both men after seeing their singles match. 

A.J. Styles faced Jay Briscoe, Samoa Joe, and Chris Sabin in a really fun #1 Contender match for the ROH World Championship in the semi-main event. Jay Briscoe got the win, but I was happy just to see A.J. Styles. In Nov. 2006, ROH ran one of their craziest shows ever when they returned to Massachusetts for War of the Wire. Styles challenged Samoa Joe in the semi-main event for the ROH World Title and lost before Steve Corino and Homicide engaged in one of the craziest and most violent matches in the history of the company in the main event in a No-Rope Barbed Wire match. 

Styles went on to become the face of TNA and eventually stopped appearing in ROH altogether. I watched him evolve from a high-flyer to a main event talent. He changed his look and gear and evolved as a performer during his time in TNA, but it felt like Styles was the poster boy for a lost cause due to TNA’s inability meaningfully grow its audience and improve its booking during his time there. 

Styles left TNA at the end of 2013 and ended up back in ROH, but he became known for his work as the leader of the heel stable Bullet Club in NJPW starting in 2014. Styles feuded with Kazuchika Okada when he entered NJPW and had some incredible matches with him. Styles G1 matches in 2014 and 2015 represented an incredible body of work. Styles shed the reputation he had of being the face of a failing promotion and became a main event talent wrestling in NJPW. He held the IWGP Hvt. Championship twice. His overall look and presentation as the leader of Bullet Club got him signed by WWE in 2016. 

Styles debuted for WWE at the Royal Rumble in 2016. He would go on to become a two time WWE Champion, which included a 371 day reign from 2017-2018. Styles had an amazing run in WWE that was better than anyone could have expected. Word came out that Styles planned to retire in 2026 while John Cena was in the midst of his retirement tour. I assumed Styles would stay around for the whole year, but he had other plans. 

While Cena was saying his goodbyes, Styles was as well and I didn’t know it. The Styles vs. Cena match at WWE’s  Crown Jewel PLE in October 2025 featured both men paying tribute to their respective rivals throughout the contest. It was my favorite match of 2026, as it was a love letter to wrestling from Cena and Styles that hit all sorts of emotional high notes from start to finish. 

I knew Styles was done when he picked a fight with Gunther on Raw after he retired John Cena. I hoped the inevitable retirement match would be put off for months, but Styles only made it to the Royal Rumble. He had some memorable matches against C.M. Punk and his old NJPW rival Shinsuke Nakamura before Gunther retired him from WWE at the Royal Rumble on Jan. 31, which was the same show styles had debuts on 10 years earlier. 

So, here we are just a handful of days after the Royal Rumble and it doesn’t seem real. Styles left the door open for a return to wrestling by taking his gloves off initially after his match with Gunther only to put them back on and hit his signature pose with his gloves pressed together showcasing his logo for the hard cam. 

Styles appeared on the Feb. 5 “What’s Your Story?” podcast with Stephanie McMahon and when asked about leaving his gloves on in the ring at Royal Rumble, Styles left the door open for a return to wrestling by saying, “Never say never, right? That’s the saying, said Styles. “I know there’s — I think everybody’s allowed at least once coming out of retirement. I’m not saying that I’ll do it anytime soon. I mean, what if my son wrestles? The opportunity to tag with him once. You never know. There’ll be a time when the gloves never go back on and it may be now, but we’ll see.”

Styles is still performing at a high level and would be a valuable addition to any company he set foot in right away. It doesn’t sound like his colleagues in WWE expect him to return to wrestling anytime soon. His wife sent a note for host Stephanie McMahon to read to him on the “What’s Your Story?” podcast that stated it is time for him to come home. I won’t be shocked to see him come back at some point, but I think we’ve seen the end of Styles as a full-time wrestler, which leaves a big void for me when it comes to how I view the landscape of wrestling.

Styles was reliable and effective as a performerssasxXAa. He was always there to have a good match in WWE if needed. He could work with other talent whether it was main events or elsewhere on the card. I’m selfishly sad I won’t turn on my TV on a Monday or Thursday night and see Styles working his magic in the ring. I’d love to see Styles wrestle the young wrestlers on the AEW roster that he hasn’t had a chance to work with yet. 

That could happen, but I’m not betting on it. Hopefully A.J. can go home and enjoy his time with his family and children. He’s done his part to entertain others, but now it is his time to go home and enjoy his family. I just won’t be too upset if he comes back sometime in the near future. 

Sean Radican has been Pro Wrestling Torch for over 22 years. He has covered the independents, ROH, and NJPW in-depth over the years in addition to also watching all the major promotions in the U.S. PWTorch VIP members get access to his weekly Radican Worlwide podcast looking at a variety of news topics from the past week and then an in-depth Go-Home segment with a guest on a big topic of the week. You can contact him at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. You can follow him on X @SR_Torch and on Bluesky @SeanRadican.