WWE Superstar Finn Balor recently broke his on-screen heel persona to send a message to a legendary name. The Prince got extremely emotional while talking about the icon. The name in question is AJ Styles.

After a phenomenal career, AJ Styles has officially retired from in-ring competition. His last bout came against Gunther at Royal Rumble 2026, where The Ring General made Styles pass out from the sleeper hold.

WWE’s YouTube recently uploaded a video, showcasing stars’ tributes to AJ Styles. The video started with Finn Balor sending an emotional message to The Phenomenal One.

The Prince revealed that he was happy to know AJ was at peace with his retirement before congratulating the latter on an incredible career. Balor then got extremely emotional and almost broke down in tears while thanking AJ for inspiring him throughout his career.

“AJ, I know we got to talk about it recently, and, you know, I was so happy to hear you’re at peace with your decision and you’re excited for your future, and I’m so excited for what you’ll be able to give back to the business. And AJ, I just wanna say congratulations on such an incredible career. From a personal standpoint, [voice breaks as he almost starts to cry] I wanna say thank you because you’ve always been such a constant source of inspiration for me, and I know we’ve had very similar career paths, but I hope you know that I’ve always, always looked up to you,” he said.

Finn added that Styles was the benchmark for him inside and outside the ring, and he was glad he got to know AJ personally.

“For me, you are the benchmark for what it is to be a professional both inside and outside of the ring. I’m very grateful that I got the opportunity to share the last 10 years with you here in this company. I know we kind of dodged each other a lot on the Indies. You were in TNA, I was in Japan. When you came to Japan, I went to NXT, so we missed each other for a long time. But I feel like getting to know you over the last 10 years on a personal level and in the ring, and just witnessing how great and phenomenal you really are, I wanna say thank you for being AJ Styles,” he added.

Check out the video below:

WWE star Roman Reigns paid tribute to AJ Styles

In the same video on WWE’s YouTube, Roman Reigns also paid tribute to AJ Styles. The OTC said he was happy to have worked with Styles in the ring, and he wished they could have wrestled again before AJ’s WWE retirement.

“You know, just happy that I was able to make some art with him when our time, you know, came a few years ago, it would’ve been cool to be able to run it back and do it again, you know, explore like new chapters of what we could do together, because there’s just a, pun intended, a phenomenal chemistry there. So, big guy, have fun, be safe, brother, and we’ll see you down the road,” he added.

It remains to be seen if WWE legend AJ Styles will return to the ring at some point in the future.

Please credit WWE’s YouTube and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling if you use quotes from the first half of this article.