The Phenomenal Retirement Plan
AJ Styles is 48 years old. In wrestling years, that is somewhere between 'grizzled veteran' and 'how is your spine still functioning?' He has nothing left to prove to anyone with a pulse. He came into WWE in 2016 when the pundits said he was too small and too 'southern' for the big league. He then proceeded to spend the next decade making everyone else look like they were wrestling in slow motion.
Now the rumors are swirling about his next chapter. Styles recently addressed the possibility of joining WWE’s creative team. He didn't just give a vague 'we’ll see' answer. He sounded like a man who actually wants to get his hands dirty in the writer's room. And honestly? It’s about damn time.
Most legends want to be 'ambassadors' which is code for 'I want to sign autographs and play golf.' Others want to be producers, which means standing in Gorilla with a headset and telling younger talent to stop doing so many dives. But Creative? That is where the actual power lives. That is where you decide who becomes a superstar and who gets stuck in a catering-based comedy segment.
The Shawn Michaels Blueprint
If you want to know why this works, look at what Shawn Michaels is doing with NXT. Before HBK took over the white-and-gold brand, he was the guy who once lost his smile and vacated titles to avoid losing. Now, he’s the most respected mind in the company. He took his once-in-a-lifetime wrestling IQ and translated it into storytelling. AJ Styles has that same DNA.
Styles has worked everywhere. He survived the chaos of TNA when they were trying to be WWE-lite. He dominated New Japan Pro Wrestling as the leader of the Bullet Club. He knows what works in a 20-minute main event and what works in a three-minute squash. That kind of perspective is something a writer with a TV background can never replicate.
Think back to his 2016 debut at the Royal Rumble. The way he carried himself wasn't just 'good wrestler' energy. It was a guy who understood how to command a room without saying a word. If he can teach a fraction of that to the kids coming out of the Performance Center, the future of the industry is safe. He’s not just a 'match guy'—he’s a logic guy.
The Red Flag: Can He Kill His Darlings?
Here is the critical observation that no one wants to admit. Being a great wrestler does not make you a great booker. We have seen this movie before. Dusty Rhodes was a genius, but he also booked himself into every main event until the fans wanted to riot. Bill Watts tried to run WCW like it was 1975 and nearly killed the company in six months.
AJ Styles’ biggest weakness has always been his own loyalty to his friends. Look at 'The OC.' He spent years trying to make Gallows and Anderson happen in WWE. He pushed for them to be positioned as a top-tier threat. But let’s be real—they were often the most boring part of the show. If AJ is in the Creative room, can he tell his buddies their ideas suck? Can he tell a guy he likes that he’s just not 'The Guy'?
Creative requires a level of cold-blooded objectivity that wrestlers usually lack. They are protective of 'the business' but even more protective of their peers. Styles would have to trade his boots for a scalpel. He would have to cut segments that don't work, even if those segments involve people he’s shared locker rooms with for twenty years. That’s a huge adjustment for a guy who has spent his life being one of the boys.
The Levesque Era Needs a Worker’s Voice
Under Triple H, WWE has moved away from the 'writer-heavy' approach of the Vince McMahon era. The scripts aren't being ripped up ten minutes before the show starts anymore. There is actual long-term planning. But there is still a gap between what a writer thinks is a cool 'moment' and what a wrestler knows will actually work in the ring.
Styles bridging that gap is vital. He’s the guy who made James Ellsworth look like a legitimate threat to the WWE Championship. Think about that for a second. He took a guy with no chin and a terrible tattoo and convinced the world he could win the big one. That isn't just talent. That is a deep, psychological understanding of how to manipulate an audience. That is exactly what a Creative team needs.
He also brings an international flavor that WWE often misses. Having run the gauntlet in Japan, he knows how to book 'strong style' without it looking like a glorified car crash. He understands the pacing of a tournament. He understands that sometimes the best story isn't a 15-minute promo—it’s a look of pure desperation during a submission hold.
The Reality of the Transition
Transitioning from the ring to the office is a death sentence for most egos. You go from having 20,000 people scream your name to sitting in a windowless room in Stamford, Connecticut, arguing about whether a segment should go 6 or 8 minutes. It’s grueling. It’s thankless. And most of the time, the fans hate everything you do anyway.
But Styles doesn't seem like the type to care about the glory anymore. He has the house, the family, and the legacy. He wants to ensure that when he finally hangs up the boots for good, the ring he left behind isn't a mess. We saw him teetering on retirement earlier this year, and that 'faked' retirement segment against Cody Rhodes was a masterclass in emotional manipulation. He’s already thinking like a booker.
The current roster is stacked with incredible athletes who have zero personality. They can do 450 splashes onto the floor, but they can't tell you why they're mad at their opponent. AJ Styles in Creative could be the fix for that. He can teach them that the 'Phenomenal' part isn't the move—it’s the reason you’re doing it. If Triple H doesn't give him a desk and a Sharpie the second his contract is up, he's making a massive mistake.
We don't need more 'creative writers' who graduated with a degree in Communications. We need more guys who have bled in every armory from Georgia to Tokyo. AJ Styles is the smartest guy in the room. It’s time WWE started paying him to be exactly that. If he can book half as well as he can execute a Phenomenal Forearm, we are entering a new golden age of storytelling.
Wrestling needs this. The 'workrate' era is great, but we need the 'psychology' era to make it mean something. Styles is the bridge. He’s the guy who can tell a rookie that a simple headlock means more than a triple jump moonsault if you do it at the right time. That’s the kind of knowledge you can’t buy. You have to live it. And AJ has lived it more than almost anyone else in that locker room.
