AJ Styles receives praise from Kelani Jordan

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WWE NXT star Kelani Jordan entered the women’s Royal Rumble match as the 27th participant in the match, hoping to win the event and book a ticket to WrestleMania 42.

Jordan didn’t end up winning the match but had a huge impact. She went to the top rope and hit a Phoenix Splash. She then got to show off her gymnastics styles in the ring by eliminating Bayley, Liv Morgan, Jacy Jayne and Raquel Rodriguez.

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AJ Styles during the Royal Rumble The Dome at America’s Center on January 29, 2022. (Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports)

WWE cameras caught Jordan talking with AJ Styles backstage. The video showed Styles whispering something in Jordan’s ear. Jordan then praised Styles as his mentor.

“AJ Styles is awesome, I mean, phenomenal. But he was someone when I was literally maybe two or three months at the Performance Center and I was training and I remembered him being there,” she told PK Press Club Digital. “He was actually in the ring and he worked with me and trained with me. I was so new and I remember him telling me very early on – only two or three months later – he was telling me, you have something special, keep going, believe in yourself and keep pushing yourself. He’s telling me, you have something special and it was very early so he got to see me when I was only two or three months old and now I’m in my very first Rumble, it was like just a crazy moment.

Kelani Jordan enters the ring during NXT at the WWE Performance Center on January 13, 2026 in Orlando, Florida. (Conor Kvatek/WWE via Getty Images)

“After the Rumble, he just mentioned how proud he was of me, how I kept my foot on the gas, I kept pushing, I didn’t let anything stop me and I took the risk. The Phoenix Splash was something that I was wondering if I did it, should I go for it? It’s a big stage, what if it doesn’t go well? And I remember him telling me, he’s like, safe, there’s no way has no reward. You go, you reach for the stars and then it went well, and I remember him telling me to never forget that, to never doubt yourself, to believe in yourself because you can do it.

Styles lost to Gunther at the Royal Rumble, forcing him to retire.

While celebrating a long career on “Monday Night Raw,” The Undertaker appeared and let Styles know he would be a part of the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2026.