AJ Styles is cooked. In his own words.
The WWE star made his long-awaited return to SmackDown on Friday, 4 October, wrestling on the weekly show for the first time in almost four months.
AJ Styles suffered an injury on his return to SmackDown earlier this monthWWE
But he left the arena that night on crutches, suffering a serious injury eight minutes into his match against Carmelo Hayes.
Early in the bout, Styles landed awkwardly from a springboard and hit the canvas clutching his leg.
The referee threw up the “X” sign with his arms after checking on the high-flyer – which typically signals a legitimate injury in WWE – and called the match.
While some fans believed the incident was part of a retirement storyline, the 47-year-old has since taken to social media to share a worrying update.
“It’s called a Lisfranc injury. Look it up, it sucks! I thought when I took off my boot I would have a bone sticking out of my foot,” Styles wrote, responding to a follower who questioned how legitimate the incident was.
He followed that up with a seven-word message that sums up his current status, replying to a worried fan who claimed it’s the type of season-ending injury that NFL players suffer.
“Bingo, as the kids say… I’m cooked!”
Lisfranc injuries occur when bones in the midfoot are broken or ligaments that support the midfoot are torn.
The overall recovery process – after surgery – can take six months to a year in some patients, with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons warning that some athletic patients never return to their pre-injury levels of sport after the difficult injury.
A long-term layoff would throw Syles’ WWE future into question, with reports suggesting his contract is due to expire in the coming months.
Styles had to abandon his comeback match after suffering the injury
The former WWE Champion has said on a number of occasions that his current deal is his final one, and that he is looking ahead to retirement.
“I’m getting close. I’m getting close to the end,” Styles said back in April.
“I want to have that story and match to go with it before I leave WWE. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most. I’m done. I’m going to retire.
“I’m getting to that point where I am worried about embarrassing myself. My brain says, ‘We can do this.’ My body is like, ‘You’re stupid. We cannot do this. We’re hurting every day when we roll out of bed.’ At some point, this has to come to an end.”
With retirement on his mind, Styles was expected to enter a storyline that would act as his “farewell tour” in WWE, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
But with fresh injury concerns, it’s unclear exactly how retirement plans will unfold for one of the most successful wrestlers of his generation.
