In September 2024, AJ Styles made his long-awaited return to WWE television and opened SmackDown with a match against Carmelo Hayes.
The bout was halted when the Phenomenal One suffered an apparent foot injury; he then limped to the back, and it initially seemed like he might have sprained his ankle.
Styles would eventually confirm on social media that he'd suffered a Lisfranc injury. Those occur if bones in the midfoot are broken or ligaments that support the midfoot are torn. The severity of a Lisfranc injury can vary widely, from a simple injury involving one midfoot joint to a complex injury involving many midfoot joints and broken bones.
A simple Lisfranc injury can be easily mistaken for a sprain (which is what happened in Styles' case), especially if the injury is a result of a straightforward twist and fall. Ultimately, it sidelined him for months and risked ending his in-ring career.
At last year's Royal Rumble, the former WWE Champion finally returned. Matches with Dominick Mysterio, Bron Breakker, John Cena, CM Punk, and more followed, and Styles even held the World Tag Team Championships with Dragon Lee for a time.
Last month, Styles was retired at the 2026 Royal Rumble PLE by former World Heavyweight Champion Gunther. WWE is set to celebrate his career on this Monday's RAW—suggesting Styles will appear during the show—and has now revealed his original retirement plans.
In a Vlog uploaded to YouTube by WWE, Styles confirmed that he'd intended to retire at WrestleMania 41 last April before that foot injury robbed him of months of in-ring action.
"Everybody wants to retire at WrestleMania, the biggest show of the year that we do. I was going to do exactly that, but I just came back from an injury that was supposed to retire me. It retires most. Once I got healed up and was comfortable enough running and doing what I need to do to be AJ Styles, it just didn’t feel right to come back for two months just to retire. It didn’t seem right and I thought, what a way to be able to leave on the pay-per-view where you debuted. Hopefully, at the end of this match, I stand up on my own two feet and I throw up the P1 that is on my gloves one more time, and I walk."
You can hear more from Styles in the build-up to his final WWE match in the player below.