Triple H has revealed that AJ Styes was eager to retire by the end of his in-ring run, and explained the various backstage roles Styles trialed before taking on his current role.

“The Game” spoke to Cody Rhodes on the “What Do You Want To Talk About” podcast, where he disclosed that Styles was keen to pull the curtains down on his career quickly. 

“So AJ Styles just retired. So towards the end, AJ was like, ‘I don’t know, I want to just be done with the business. I want to be done wrestling.’ And I don’t think I’m betraying your confidence here, but even in his last match, he was telling me like, ‘I so know I’m done because like I was out there in that last match thinking like, let’s just get over with, I just want to get to the end,'” said Triple H. 

Styles has walked away from the in-ring aspect of the business, but he is still keen to be a part of pro wrestling. While the producer role, which he tried, didn’t appeal to him, the prospect of scouting young stars is something that interested him.

“But he wants to participate in the business. But being an agent or a producer, it’s a different world. Being in what we do, there’s different fits for different people. AJ came in, he sat in on some creative meetings. He sat in on some, you know, production meetings. I think he realized like the writing thing’s not for me. Producer thing, I don’t think is for me. What I really like is getting to these young kids and spotting talent and then trying to help, you know, fan the flames of the little spark that’s there and try to make them into something more the developmental side of it. So, great. Let’s utilize him in that, great and grab those talents there,” explained Triple H.

He believes that many wrestlers want to walk away from the business after their in-ring retirement, as they don’t want to do the travel and other things associated with the pro wrestling industry.