Add as a preferred source on Google AJ Styles believes WWE has lost some of the massive momentum it built for Gunther following the Royal Rumble.
On Jan. 31, 2026, the Ring General defeated Styles in a match with the Phenomenal One’s career on the line. He became the third man the Austrian has retired in less than a year, following Goldberg and John Cena.
During The Phenomenally Retro Podcast, Tony Giles called Gunther’s booking one of WWE’s biggest failures of 2026. Styles initially questioned how the company could keep extending the “Career Killer” character, but he agreed that putting Gunther in a rivalry with Nick Aldis doesn’t match the weight of the three retirements.
“I can see where you’re coming from, I do, but what do we do? We can’t just have him retiring people, that’s not going to work, but there’s always the chance that he could. I just don’t know what we’re trying to do, like he can’t retire everybody he wrestles.
Is that the one thing we don’t have right now, a heel (world) champion? In the matches that we have, we’ve still not got a clear heel.
With Seth (Rollins) and Roman (Reigns), there’s no clear heel there. With (CM) Punk and Cody (Rhodes), no real heel there. These guys are huge stars, but I wouldn’t say they’re hated heels. GUNTHER is a hated heel.”
Styles went further, arguing that Gunther should capture a world title again and pointing out that CM Punk doesn’t need the belt to remain a huge attraction. He also voiced concern about the outcome of the rivalry with Aldis, since a loss to the General Manager would diminish the man who has retired three legends.