Whether or not AJ Styles is officially wrapping up his in-ring career with WWE next Saturday at the 2026 Royal Rumble remains to be seen, but if that is indeed the case, one more match is being squeezed in there at the last minute.
On tonight's episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown, there was a backstage segment where SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis had invited AJ Styles to be on the show, who was curious why he was there.
Aldis asked Styles if he was seriously going to put his career on the line against Gunther and if that was a good idea. Styles reiterated again that he would be going through with it, and Aldis brought in someone else who wanted to talk to Styles about that: Shinsuke Nakamura.
Nakamura brought up the same points, about how this is not something Styles needs to do, but Styles said that if he doesn't stand up to a bully like The Ring General, then Gunther has already won. Responding to that, Nakamura challenged Styles to a match for tomorrow's WWE Saturday Night's Main Event show, under the guise that he should prove that he still is "phenomenal." After Styles accepted the challenge, Aldis made it official, adding that fourth match to the card.
Here is the current full card for WWE Saturday Night's Main Event 43 at the moment:
- WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Match: Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley (c) vs The Judgment Day (Liv Morgan & Roxanne Perez)
- AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura
- Cody Rhodes vs Jacob Fatu
- No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way Match: Sami Zayn vs Damian Priest vs Randy Orton vs Trick Williams
As far as some other matches announced for future dates, Giulia and Kiana James defeated both teams of Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair and Lash Legend & Nia Jax to earn a shot at the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against whoever walks out of Saturday Night's Main Event with the titles, but they haven't specified when that will happen yet.
Matt Cardona also told Kit Wilson that they can settle their problems in the ring, but nothing was announced for when they would have that match. Strangely, not a single match was confirmed for next week's episode of SmackDown, meaning there is a chance that happens then, but there are no guarantees.
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