“The Ring General” is very quickly becoming the final boss character of WWE that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson thinks he is. Gunther retired Goldberg just a few weeks ago, put an end to Jey Uso’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign, and on his best day genuinely looks like the most unstoppable force in all of wrestling today. Amazingly, Styles and Gunther have only ever wrestled each other at WWE house shows, meaning that they are at the very least familiar with each other, but as far as televised matches, not a single one, not even a tag team match or a Royal Rumble, has ever happened between the two men.

This entry goes a little further though, because we’ve been talking about men that Styles should face on his retirement run when it does eventually happen, but we haven’t discussed who should be the final opponent. Who should be the man to retire “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles? The answer is Gunther.

If you really want to add weight to the match assuming the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is on the line, making Gunther Styles’ final opponent would build “The Ring General” up even more as an immovable object atop of WWE. The man who other wrestlers tell their children scary stories about as he’s the one old wrestlers go to when they want one more great match, and a reason to remind them why they’re retiring in the first place. Gunther is also a perfect foil for high flyers, and while we’ve already noted that Styles is a lot more grounded in 2025, he can still deliver The Phenomenal Forearm with devastating effect. Gunther vs. Styles has to happen, and when it’s all said and done, Gunther should be able to boast that he retired AJ Styles.