AJ Styles put his career on the line at the Royal Rumble and ultimately his in-ring career came to an end when he was defeated by Gunther. The Phenomenal One was clearly emotional as he walked up the ramp and during an appearance on What’s Your Story? with Stephanie McMahon he revealed that Chris Park (Abyss) was the first person he hugged when he got backstage.
“I was fine, I was AJ Styles all the way from the end of the match, all the way to when I got to the back. First person I hugged was Chris Park, Abyss, and then so on, and Punk, I hugged everyone there and it was great. As soon as I walked around to leave, it freaking hit me.
“Then you see me power walking, a little bit of running, to get to where they were stacking the bags, because that just made it my locker room and I thought I shut the door, didn’t shut it apparently, so I just had my back to the door and I’m kinda trying not to (cry) like the biggest baby in the world.
“And Shane Helms comes up and kind of grabs me and he said, ‘It’s alright, you’re good man, you don’t have to turn your back.’ It meant so much for him to come up and see me. Then Jolene our seamstress comes up and she’s hugging on me. Then Xavier comes up and I probably squeezed him the hardest because I’ve known him for so long and seeing him do so well in so many different things, it was a special moment.
“I squeezed him hard, he’s my guy. I squeezed a lot of people hard that night, it’s like you said (Stephanie McMahon) we might not be able to talk to each other like we used to but when we see each other it’s like no time is passed. We still know each other, it’ll still be the biggest hug. I’ll miss that I really will. So let’s hope I find a way to stay connected.”
After his match with Gunther, AJ took his gloves off and then put them back which led to a lot of speculation regarding what that meant. AJ Styles also explained the meaning of putting his gloves back on, and his thoughts on a possible in-ring return, and you can get more details on that here.
H/T WrestleTalk.com