Building on his post-retirement WWE commitment revealed earlier, AJ Styles detailed his scouting and consulting responsibilities on the debut of his Phenomenally Retro podcast. He plans to evaluate indie, NXT, and main roster talent, attend upcoming events like Raw in Seattle, and assist with development, while also training his son for a potential wrestling career.
Following his in-ring retirement announcement on the February 23, 2026, episode of WWE Raw and induction into the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame class, AJ Styles has continued discussing his new backstage role with WWE.
On the debut episode of his Phenomenally Retro podcast, Styles expanded on his scouting and consulting duties, which he first touched on during Talk N Shop after retiring. "I'm on the internet, and I'm checking out talent," he said. "Because it's gonna be part of my job with WWE now is I'm looking for talent. And I'm looking to see what I can do, if I can do anything for them, if they can get better, little things like that. Because if there's the possibility of them coming to -- maybe it's getting a WWE ID or something like that, then hopefully I can facilitate getting that to happen."
The role spans independent scenes, NXT, and the main roster. "As of right now, it's a little slow, but there's phone calls that's going to have to be made to make sure that my job is done. And it's not just with indie talent. It'll be NXT talent and maybe some main roster talent as well," Styles added.
He plans to attend the next Monday Night Raw in Seattle to connect with performers. "I'm gonna go to Seattle for Raw and talk to talent. Who knows. Sometimes you need to talk to somebody to see how they're feeling and maybe they want to go down the PC and work on some stuff. I'm that guy," he explained.
Styles also revealed he is training his son, who may pursue wrestling and could eventually join WWE's NXT. Sources continue to describe his position as focused on talent development across the organization, aligning with earlier reports of his multi-year contract and Performance Center involvement.
