AJ Styles will be glad to spend more time with his family when he finally hangs up his boots.
The 46-year-old superstar has admitted it will be ‘easy’ for him to retire when the time is right, particularly after he got a taste of during his recent injury layoff.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘I think that we bust our tail in this ring so that we can enjoy spending time that we have lost for so many years. That’s what retirement’s all about!
‘Once it’s over, I think it’s gonna be easy for me to go, “Okay! I did what I was supposed to do! I fought as hard as I could for as long as I could to the point where I hopefully didn’t embarrass myself”.
‘At the same time, the fruits of your labour are where you’re gonna enjoy that now, that’s what it’s all about. No more missing birthdays, high school, elementary stuff. I’m gonna be there as a father to see that. I’ve missed enough.’
The Phenomenal One returned last month after spending six months on the shelf, having during a match on a live event in December 2022.
The recovery process was ‘a little bit of a rollercoaster’ as he struggled with the mental side, particularly when it came to understanding why he wasn’t able to do what he ‘needed to do’ during his rehab.
‘It almost took another MRI to convince me that it wasn’t more than just a broken ankle, it was just inflammation. It really bothered me so bad – doing certain jumps, it’s almost like I forgot how to do it in that time,’ he candidly admitted.
‘It was difficult, it was a little bit of a rollercoaster ride but once I knew that it was inflammation, that I couldn’t hurt it any worse or be out any longer, I really got after it and just sucked it up.
‘Pain is only pain – in the Road House, Patrick Swayze said, “Pain don’t hurt”, and he’s absolutely right. It’s a mental thing.’
However, there was a definite advantage to the six month break, which meant Styles suddenly found himself living life ‘like a normal human being’, rather than being tied to the hectic schedule of life on the road.
He laughed: ‘I started acting like a normal human being, and that’s not such a bad thing! Waking up in the morning instead of sleeping till 12, going to bed at a regular time instead of staying up till 3 o’clock in the morning.
‘Because that is the way it’s been for so long for me because I’ve been on the road. It’s hard to wind down after you’ve been driving after a show, so you’re up till 2 or 3 in the morning. It was nice!
‘I think my wife actually enjoyed me going to bed at a regular time and all that, waking up with her – like I said, being a normal human being.’
That said, Styles is still motivated by the work he’s doing in the ring and isn’t retiring just yet, in the form of the next generation of stars.
‘Being down at the Performance Center getting cleared and reevaluated, being there two times in the months that I was trying to recover from my injury, it really inspired me to see how excited they were to get better,’ he smiled.
‘Being able to be with them and show them little tricks that I’ve found out over the years and share that information was a blessing. It inspired me to make the rest of my career the best it possibly could be.’
