AJ Styles Feared Career End After Latest Injury

AJ Styles revealed he feared his wrestling career could have ended following an injury during his return match on the October 4 episode of SmackDown against Carmelo Hayes.

During an appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Styles discussed the foot injury that kept him sidelined for four months until his return at the Royal Rumble in February.

I was like this is it. How am I going to recover again? I was like this might be it, and it sucked. Because like you said, I just came back. I was not hurt previously after I wrestled Cody in an “I Quit” match. I was not hurt during that time. So I’m sitting at home going okay, guys, okay. Then, hey, we’re going to bring you back in Nashville. It’s going to be great. Hurt myself, yeah I was p*ssed. I was mad. It may look like I was acting. I was not.

The injury occurred during the match with Hayes, which WWE stopped abruptly. Styles stated he had not been injured prior to this return, following his “I Quit” match with Cody Rhodes.

Styles also explained how the foot injury continues to affect him after matches, mentioning that he still experiences soreness after performing.

I think it’s one of those things where I’m so afraid of losing a step I’m doing everything I can to make sure it doesn’t look like I’ve lost the step. But it took a toll on me. Because I go out there and I got two gears, all or nothing. Is that one gear? I don’t know. But the fact that, yeah, I’m gonna go in there and I’m gonna give it my all. And then after the adrenaline wears off, I was like, ‘Now it’s sore a little bit.’ So you might catch me limping afterwards until I get used to this foot, stretching it out, all those tendons and stuff like that. But so far so good.

During the interview, Styles mentioned he has been considering when he will retire from in-ring competition and has a timeframe in mind.

The former WWE Champion returned to action at the Royal Rumble in February following his four-month absence due to the foot injury.