During their first tenures in WWE, CM Punk and AJ Styles were co-workers for exactly zero years, and the former opted to leave the promotion and the industry as a whole in 2014, two years before Styles left behind the Bullet Club in order to try his hands at the biggest show in the game right now.

And yet, because Styles has friends all over the professional wrestling business, including two of Punk's least favorite people, Nicholas and Matthew Jackson, collectively known as the Young Bucks, he's certainly heard a story or two of what it's like to work with the “Best in the World” and most of them aren't very good to say the least.

Discussing what it's like to work with Punk in WWE on The Ringer Wrestling Show, Styles noted that, while he didn't come with particularly good recommendations, he's enjoyed their time working together thus far, as the “Second City Saint” has been all positives since showing up last November.

“If you know anything about AJ Styles and CM Punk, you would know that we really don't care for each other. If you want me to ruin everything you think you know, I can,” AJ Styles told The Ringer via Fightful. “Here it is. Past performance predicts future behavior, right? Some over at AEW are my best friends. Love them, trust them, know them. I was expecting a problem when he came here. I was wrong. The guy looks like he's happy to be here. He looks like a guy that I want to step into the ring with and tear the house down with. So, I can't wait until that tricep of his is ready to rock so we can tear the house down.”

Is it surprising to learn that Punk is doing his best to act as professionally as possible as a member of the WWE Universe? No, not really; at this point, Punk is more or less on his last chance in professional wrestling and would have some serious trouble making money at the same level if this opportunity does work out. Still, for now, everything appears copacetic, which, for now (again), is all that matters… at least until it isn't.

AJ Styles wants to end his career on a high note.

Elsewhere in his conversation with The Ringer Wrestling Show, AJ Styles was asked about his career longevity and how much time he thinks he has left before calling it a career.

While the 46-year-old still believes he has some gas left in the tank, he knows the end is closer than the beginning.

I'm anxious to see what story comes next. I'm getting close. I'm getting close to the end. I want to have that story and match to go with it before I leave the WWE,” AJ Styles told The Ringer via Fightful. “That's what I'm looking forward to the most.”

Done in WWE, as in there's a chance he could jump to AEW or even back to TNA? According to Styles, done means done, as he's simply unable to perform athletically at the level he wants to.

“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,” Styles noted. “At some point, this has to come to an end.' I've realized, like so many others that come before me, the greats, they get out of it when we think there is still time for them. It's because we don't want to embarrass ourselves. We're just trying to get out while we still can where we can still get around and just have fun away from wrestling. I love it, this is what I do and what I know. I've spent more than half my life doing this, but at some point, you have to let go because it's fun, but I don't want to disappoint you. When you see AJ Styles, I want you to go, ‘That's my guy, that's the guy I know,' rather than go, ‘He just isn't the same guy and can't do what he used to.' I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to let you down. My time is coming. It's getting short. I am going to enjoy it, I promise you that.”

Who should Styles feud with on his way out of the door? Should it be another Bullet Club leader, Finn Balor? Or maybe one of his proteges, Karl Anderson or Luke Gallows? Is there another NJPW star the promotion could pick off in the next few years to pass along the baton, someone like current Bullet Club leader and WWE legacy act David Finlay? Needless to say, this will be fascinating to see.