AJ Styles is the latest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2026, and is the expected headliner of the show, or so we all thought. However, WWE announced a change to this year’s Hall of Fame following this.

For some context, only two names so far have been announced for the WWE Hall of Fame. A few months ago, Stephanie McMahon was sitting on the side during a Premium Live Event when The Undertaker came out unannounced and approached Stephanie, who was quite clueless about what was going on. The Undertaker then announced that she was the first inductee into the 2026 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame. He did exactly the same this past week on RAW for AJ Styles’ official retirement, catching The Phenomenal One off guard and letting him know that he was being inducted.

On SmackDown this week, the commentators Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore announced that Stephanie McMahon and AJ Styles will both be the headliners this year, which is a major change from the usual format.

Of course, this likely means that one will be opening the ceremony while the other closes it. Two years ago, Paul Heyman was technically the headliner but opened the show instead. Last year, Triple H, the headliner, went on last, but there was a lot of criticism as the show went on late into the night, and there were viral photos of the attendees (many WWE stars) falling asleep during his speech. This was unprecedented, and WWE might try to avoid that this time around.