AJ Styles receives praise from Kelani Jordan

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

Jordan didn’t end up winning the game, but he had a big impact. She climbed to the top rope and hit a Phoenix Splash. She was then able to show off her gymnastic style in the ring when she defeated 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 to AJ Styles backstage. The video showed Styles whispering something in Jordan’s ear. Jordan later praised Styles as his mentor.

“AJ Styles is incredible, I mean, phenomenal. But he was someone when I was literally, maybe like two or three months, at the Performance Center, and I was training and I remembered he was there,” she told Pak Gazette Digital. “He was actually in the ring and he worked with me and he trained with me. I was so new and I remember him telling me from the beginning, just like two or three months later, he said, you have something special, keep going, believe in yourself and keep pushing yourself. He said, you have something special and that was very early, so to be able to see me when I was only two or three months old and now to be in my first Rumble, it was like 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, kept pushing, didn’t let anything stop me and took the risk. The Phoenix Splash was something I was wondering: Should I do it? Should I try it? This is a great scenario. What if it doesn’t work out? And I remember him telling me, ‘No risk, no reward. You go for it, you shoot for the stars. And then he was gone. “Well, and I remember him telling me to never forget it, to never doubt yourself, to believe in yourself because you can do it. And that was kind of like… he believed in me at that moment more than I believed in myself.”

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 that he was going to be a part of the 2026 WWE Hall of Fame.