Like most WWE Superstars, AJ Styles is looking forward to the return of live fans. But more than most of his peers on the roster, Styles knows that he’s closer to the end of his in-ring career than the beginning.
During an appearance on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Styles explained that walking away from WWE, and wrestling itself, will be quite difficult, and he didn’t exactly care for the little taste he got of a lighter schedule during the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s gonna be a hard thing, and you understand it more now when you know you’re getting closer to the end of your career, how hard it will be to walk away,” said Styles. “Because you enjoy that fan interaction, you enjoy everything about it, the friends who become more like family that you spend a lot of time in WWE with.
“That’s hard. It’s hard to leave, and it’s hard to adjust once you’re done. I got a taste, I guess, what that’s like with the COVID stuff, but I didn’t say I liked it. So I’m not sure when it’s gonna be over for me, but I signed my last contract so we’ll see when that is.”
“The Phenomenal One” then candidly described how, as a 44-year-old performer, he can’t do the same things he did when he was a young wrestler. Styles emphasized how sometimes he’s scared he’ll hurt himself or someone else in the ring due to the way(s) his body has aged.
“Things that were so easy when I first started that are scary to me now,” said Styles. “They scare me. Because I don’t know if I’ll make it, or I may hurt someone trying it, or it could end my career, I’m not sure. Because that muscle fiber, yeah it goes away pretty quick the older you get. So you’re not jumping as high. You’re not doing stuff that’s effortless anymore. So yeah it’s a struggle sometimes.”
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