AJ Styles and CM Punk have a long history together, but it wasn’t always a good one.
AJ Styles gets candid about his history with current WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk.
On the January 26 episode of WWE Raw, AJ Styles competed in his final match with the brand against CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship. It was an excellent matchup worthy of the main event. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a definitive finish due to interference from Finn Balor.
AJ Styles was featured on the latest WWE Vlog. Following the match, The Phenomenal One reflected on his history with Punk, noting that they had some rough times in the past, but he’s grateful they were able to work things out and leave their issues behind them.
“Was it an awesome match? Was it a privilege more than it was awesome, absolutely,” AJ Styles admitted. “To get in there, not only with Punk, but the Heavyweight Champion. I don’t think he understands how much it means to me, because we had some rough times coming out. And it really, really bothered me.
“It really bothered me because you were so close at one point. And then you get caught up in your bubbles and stuff like that, and miscommunication, it sucks. We are living proof that live and learn, forget, forgive, move on. Life’s too short to be angry with each other over stupid things. Me and Punk don’t think on a lot of same things, but that doesn’t separate us from being friends and being appreciative of each other.
“It’s so stupid to live like that. I wish everybody could understand that we’re going to have differences. We’re not going to agree on everything, but we can agree to be civil. And we both said things in the past we wish we could take back. So with that being said, I’m so thankful for that match tonight.”
While WWE has announced a tribute show for AJ Styles this Monday night in Atlanta on Raw, it’s very unlikely that The Phenomenal One will compete on that show or any WWE show going forward.
Unless an extension between the two sides has been reached in secret, AJ Styles’ WWE contract is set to expire at some point this month. What his next move will be has been a very hot topic of conversation in recent weeks.
It has been reported that both AEW and TNA Wrestling have interest in having AJ Styles come in to work some matches at some point this year. If Styles wants to extend his retirement tour through the rest of the year, there would be plenty of opportunities for Styles to make several more moments for himself and his fans before putting the gloves down for good.
Be it TNA, AEW, or even New Japan Pro-Wrestling, there is plenty of reason to think we haven’t seen the last of AJ Styles inside the squared circle. Will it happen? We’ll find out soon enough.
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