A Look Back at the Phenomenal Career of AJ Styles Part 2: The Face of TNA

Welcome back, folx! Last week, we covered the beginnings of AJ Styles’ in-ring career, his runs in ROH, and the early days of TNA. We will pick up where we left off. AJ Styles just ended his first run as the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, his first of nine World Championships (the PWG World Championship wasn’t made a World Championship until after Styles’ run). Today, we will cover the rest of his time in TNA, his return to ROH, and his time in the Independents.

Second and Third World Championships and a Return to the X-Division

Ascending the Mountain Again

Before he could regain the title from Jarrett, AJ Styles would take a detour. He would be forced to team with Abyss in a match for the NWA World Tag Team Championships. Despite Abyss leaving mid-match, Styles would win.

Abyss and Styles would have two matches for control of the titles, with Styles winning the first by DQ, and then Abyss winning the rematch after interference by Lex Luger. Styles would become the #1 Contender to the NWA World Championship in March and beat Jarrett in a Steel Cage match to win his second World Championship.

He would successfully defend the title against Ron Killings, Raven, and Chris Harris. He would then defend the title in a Fatal Four-Way against all four men, which he lost to Killings following interference by Jarrett.

At least it didn’t go back to Jarrett this time, even if he was the one involved in the decision. Early TNA was the Jarrett show, and fair it was his company, and he didn’t have to worry about being run out on by himself. If he had been more open to others, we could have also seen Monty Brown in the list of Black World Champions.

It’s Not About Weight Limits, It’s About No Limits

After losing the World Championship, AJ Styles would return to the X-Division. Helping to really establish the division as the place to be. The X-Division and the addition of the six-sided ring are what helped to set TNA apart from the WWE. The later addition of a solid Women’s division helped to define TNA even more. That is, until Bischoff and Hogan got their hands on the product.

But that isn’t what we are talking about today. Styles would quickly win his third X-Division Championship, beating Frankie Kazarian in June. He would enter a feud with Kid Kash and Dallas (Lance Archer’s early years here!) And would also face Jeff Hardy in Hardy’s first match with TNA.

He would lose the title to Michael Shane and Kazarian in an Ultimate X match. (Yes to both of them, they would become co-champions after they both grabbed the title at the same time. That’s some Russo booking goodness right there!)

AJ Styles would finally end his feud with Kash after beating him in a Tables match. And would follow that up by facing Petey Williams at the first Victory Road. He would fail to win the title that night, but would win his fourth X-Division Championship two months later. At the first Final Resolution, Styles would beat Chris Sabin and Petey Williams in an Ultimate X match to win the title.

I love the Ultimate X match; it was really TNA’s signature match type. It showed off the athletic abilities of the X-Division wrestlers. While the overhead wires provided opportunities for a lot of unique spots.

After winning the X-Division Championship again, AJ Styles’ first feud would be with an old rival. After failing to beat Christopher Daniels within 10-minutes, Daniels would earn the right to face Styles in a 30-Minute Iron Man match at Against All Odds.

The matches between Styles and Daniels were always a joy to watch. It was two of the best wrestlers on the planet going out there and giving us their all. Daniels is such an underrated talent, and without him, we wouldn’t have so many of the wrestlers we have today.

AJ Styles would win the match, but would lose the belt to Daniels at Destination X in an Ultimate X Challenge also featuring Ron Killings and Elix Skipper.

A Short Third World Championship Run

AJ Styles would become the #1 Contender to the NWA World Championship after beating Abyss at Lockdown. He would go on to win his third World Championship by beating Jeff Jarrett (this guy again) at Hard Justice. His reign would not last long, though, as he would lose the title to Raven in a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary in June. (And in no shock to anyone, Jarrett would win the title back two months later.)

Five-Star Triple-Threat

While it would be a while before Styles would be World Champion again. He didn’t stay down for long. Entering the TNA 2005 Super X Cup Tournament, with the winner getting a shot at Christopher Daniels. He would beat Matt Bentley and Petey Williams, but then lose to Samoa Joe in the finals.

Due to interference by Daniels in the finals, Styles would get added to the match at Unbreakable, and we got the first of two amazing Triple-Threats. This is also Styles’ first and only full Five-Star match from Dave Meltzer. It’s well deserving of all the praise it received, and still holds up 21 years later.

AJ Styles would win the match and his fifth X-Division Championship. His first major defense would be against Daniels in their second 30-Minute Iron Man match. He would then defend the title against Petey Williams at Genesis.

After Joe brutally attacked Daniels, Styles would call him out for breaking the X-Division code. This would lead to Joe beating Styles for the X-Division Championship at Turning Point.

He would fail to regain the title in another Triple-Threat between the three at Against All Odds. And Daniels would win the title in an Ultimate X match at Destination X. Daniels would lose the title back to Joe and then form a team with Styles.

NWA World Tag Team Champions

The new team would try and fail to win the NWA World Tag Team Championships twice. They would finally beat America’s Most Wanted at Slammiversary. This win would give AJ Styles his third NWA World Tag Team Championship. The duo would successfully defend the titles against LAX at Hard Justice, but a few weeks later, LAX would get revenge and the titles in a Border Brawl match.

Styles & Daniels would regain the titles at No Surrender, before dropping them back to LAX at Bound for Glory in a Six Sides of Steel match.

Styles and Daniels worked just as well together as they did as rivals. They had been working together for years by then, and used that experience to make a formidable team. Again, when you put two of the best in the world in the ring, either as opponents or partners, you can expect magic.

Final X Division Championship

After losing the Tag Team Championships, AJ Styles would beat Chris Sabin on Impact to start his sixth and final run as X-Division Champion. This would also be in the quarter-finals of the Fight for the Right tournament to determine the #1 Contender to Sting’s NWA World Heavyweight Championship. (Holy crap, it wasn’t Jarrett this time!) Styles would end up losing in the finals to Abyss, and then would lose the X-Division Championship to Daniels in a Triple-Threat that also involved Sabin.

AJ Styles would lose to Christian Cage at Genesis. This would start a heel turn for Styles, because he blamed the loss on Daniels. Styles would feud with Rhino for trying to fix the relationship between Styles and Daniels. During the feud, Styles would team with Samoa Joe to beat Rhino and Kurt Angle. But then would lose in a Last Man Standing match at Final Resolution and in an Elevation X Match at Destination X.

The Face of TNA (As Long as There Isn’t a New Flavor of the Month)

This started one of the more frustrating parts of AJ Styles’ TNA career. Here was a guy who had helped build the company. The first and multi-time Triple Crown winner and one of the best wrestlers on the planet. But does he get positioned to be a top guy? No, he starts playing second fiddle to Christian or Kurt Angle, and later Ric Flair.

The Christian Coalition

After the feud with Rhino, Styles would partner with Christian Cage, forming the Christian Coalition. This is where we can trace AJ Styles’ chest hair to. Because in the early 2000s, heels had body hair! It was like the bad guys wearing the black hats in Cowboy movies.

After the Christian Coalition lost to the Angel Alliance at Lockdown, Styles would team with Tomko. They would lose to Sting and Abyss at Victory Road. The team rebounded quickly, though, winning a Ten-Tag Gauntlet match to become the #1 Contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championships.

They would beat Team Pacman at Bound for Glory to give Styles his first TNA World Tag Team Championship. (What a horrible decision it was to bring in Adam Jones; not only was he toxic in the media, but he also couldn’t take any bumps.)

They would successfully defend the titles against LAX and The Steiner Brothers at Genesis. But later in the night, they would inadvertently cost Cage his match against Kurt Angle for the TNA World Championship.

I want to say that I really enjoyed Cage’s TNA run. He bet on himself, proved he could be a top guy, and then returned to the WWE. If his second run in the WWE had been better. He would have been Cody Rhodes before Cody Rhodes.

The Angle Alliance

Styles was forced to choose between Angle and Christian, deciding to shift allegiance to Angle at Final Resolution.

And then the brilliant minds in TNA’s creative thought it would be a good idea to have Styles end up accidentally married to Karen Angle. How they thought this would be a good Idea I will never know. Styles and Tomko would lose their titles to Kaz and Super Eric in April. And Angle and Styles would have continued tensions as Angle accused Styles of having an affair with Karen.

These accusations were too much, and Styles would leave the Angle Alliance, turning him face again. Styles would beat Angle at Slammiversary, but was beaten down by Angle and Tomko in the post-match. The two would fight Hard Justice with Styles beating Angle in a Last Man Standing match. They would conclude their feud after Styles would beat Angle for his Olympic Gold Medal, and then again in a Ladder match to end their feud.

The Frontline Against The Main Event Mafia

Shortly after the feud with Angle, Angle would team up with Kevin Nash, Booker T, and Sting to form The Main Event Mafia. I honestly like the stable. It was a rehash of the WCW Millionaires Club vs New Blood. But I think it was done a lot better in TNA, since the end of WCW was such a cluster.

Styles and Samoa Joe would team up with a large faction of TNA talent and call themselves The Frontline. The Main Event Mafia would recruit Scott Steiner to their side as well. Styles would challenge Sting for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Turning Point but fail to beat him.

In January, Angle would beat Styles in a Tables match, taking him out with a kayfabe injury. Styles would return at Against All Odds, attacking Booker T and stealing his Legends Championship. Styles would then beat Booker T for the title at Destination X. This made Styles the first TNA Grand Slam Champion.

He would compete in the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary, but fail to win after Joe turned on him and helped Angle win. Nash would then beat Styles for the Legends Championship at Victory Road, and Styles would lose a Best of Three Series against Matt Morgan for a spot in the match between Sting and Angle at Hard Justice.

This was just frustrating to watch at the time. Styles winning the King of the Mountain match and the TNA World Championship could have been a satisfying end to the Main Event Mafia storyline. Styles would be the hero who saved TNA and would bring it into the future.

But instead, they do a swerve with Joe, which didn’t make sense. They explained it away by saying the stable paid off Joe because they couldn’t beat him. And in the end, there was never a really good, satisfying ending. The Main Event Mafia kept going before merging with World Elite in 2009. So, instead of Styles finally beating Sting or Angle, he was turned on and lost everything. Great way to use the face of your company, TNA.

Finally Returning to the Top Again

In August, Styles contemplated retiring, but was talked out of it by Sting. And at No Surrender, Styles would win his first TNA World Championship (and his fourth overall). He would beat Sting at Bound for Glory, ending Sting’s Bound for Glory winning streak.

After being attacked by a mystery man, Styles accused both Daniels and Joe of being the one to do it. This led to a rematch four years in the making, while it didn’t quite reach the five-star status of their first Triple-Threat, a 4.5 is nothing to sneeze at.

He would continue to defend the title against Desmond Wolfe (I will always be sad that Nigel couldn’t have had a longer run before his illness took him out for 15 years) and Daniels. At Genesis, he would defend the title against Angle, winning with an assist from Ric Flair. This would turn Styles Heel again.

The New Nature Boy

In a move that made absolutely zero sense, Styles would be declared the New Nature Boy and start to dress like Flair. This was seriously so stupid. As I’ve already said. Styles was the face of TNA, the heart and soul of the company. Fans didn’t want to see him turned into a Flair wannabe. And it was clear Styles didn’t want to do it either.

Styles would continue to defend the title, first against Angle in a rematch that ended with a Montreal Screwjob retread (because that’s what the fans want!) He would beat Joe at Against All Odds with help from Flair as well. He had a match with Abyss at Destination X that ended in a No Contest after he was chokeslammed through the ring. And in one of his only clean defenses, he beat D’Angelo Dinero at Lockdown.

The next day on Impact! He would lose the title to a debuting Rob Van Dam. His run was a then-record-setting 211 days. Bobby Roode would break the record with is 256 day run in 2011-2012. A record that would stand until Josh Alexander’s 335-day run in 2022.

Styles would fail to regain the title in a rematch at Sacrifice. Due to his losses, Flair would turn his attention to his new protégé, Kazarian. This caused Styles to get jealous, and because two men fighting over the attention of an old man is a “great” story. He would try to prove he was worthy by facing Jay Lethal. He would lose twice against Lethal on Impact and then again at Slammiversary VIII.

Got to love the Hogan and Bischoff booking here. I just can’t understand why they thought this would help Styles or the company. WRESTLING ISN’T THIS HARD. Of course, the most obvious reason is that Hogan knew Styles would be more popular than him. So, he turned him heel and made him a simp for Flair.

Fortune

Flair would add Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode, and James Storm to the group and dub them Fourtune, later changed to Fortune, his new take on the Four Horsemen. The group would feud with EV 2.0, a group of ECW legends. This was fresh off some of them being let go after the WWECW launch. And I remember fans at the time hating this. ECW had its moment in the sun, and in 2010, it was time to move on.

Styles would beat EV 2.0 leader Tommy Dreamer in an I Quit match at No Surrender. But the Fortune would lose to EV 2.0 in a Lethal Lockdown match at Bound for Glory. The Lethal Lockdown was a take on WarGames. It takes place in one ring, weapons are provided, and once all the competitors have entered, the roof is lowered.

The next night, Fortune would align with Hogan and Bischoff’s group, Immortal. Gods, I hated this era of TNA. Hogan and Bischoff really screwed over the entire company. Anyway, this would lead to a Ten-Man Tag Team match at Turning Point, which was won by Fortune, and as a result, Sabu was fired.

Fortune would turn face by attacking Immortal when they interfered in a match between Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy. So, Fortune, this group that was set up to be the next Four Horsemen, spent eight months as heels, struggled to beat a group of guys past their prime, teamed up with Hogan’s group, and then turned face. Way to make your group of young talent look strong, TNA!

Flair wasn’t involved in the turn because he was out with an injury. But upon return, he would side with Immortal. Styles would lose a Triple-Threat Street Fight against Flair and Matt Hardy. But he would get some revenge when he beat Matt Hardy at Victory Road.

Styles would be taken out for a couple of months after a powerbomb off the stage by Bully Ray. He would return at Lockdown, attacking Ray and helping Fortune beat Immortal. He would then feud with Tommy Dreamer again, because he had joined Immortal to save his job. Wouldn’t the logical story be that he feuds with Immortal to free Dreamer? The feud would end at Slammiversary IX with Bully Ray defeating Styles in a Last Man Standing match.

Styles would then start a feud with his stablemate and old rival, Christopher Daniels. Styles would beat Daniels at Destination X. Daniels would win the rematch but refuse to shake Styles’ hand (Code of Honor!) Styles would beat Daniels in an I Quit match at Bound for Glory and then again in November on an episode of Impact Wrestling.

After Daniels, he would try to regain the TNA World Championship. Losing to Bobby Roode at Turning Point, tying with him in an Iron-Man match at Final Resolution, but losing in the sudden-death tie-breaker on the next episode of Impact Wrestling. (Wait, what? Why was the tie-breaker not on the actual PPV?)

Kazarian and Styles were the last two members of Fortune. And during the finals of the Wild Card Tournament, Kazarian would walk out on Styles, ending this horrible chapter of booking.

Final Years in TNA and a Brief Rewind

Feud with Bad Influence

Styles would start feuding with Kazarian and Daniels. Kazarian would beat Styles at Against All Odds. And he would beat Styles again in a Gauntlet match in March. Styles would then team with Mr. Anderson and beat Daniels and Kazarian at Victory Road, and then again in the annual Lethal Lockdown.

And then we enter ANOTHER terrible TNA booking decision. Honestly, just going through the various terrible ideas that plagued Styles in TNA, you understand why LOLTNA is a thing. Daniels and Kazarian would claim to have a series of pictures showing a relationship between Dixie Carter and AJ Styles. But this was later revealed to be that Styles and Carter were helping an addicted pregnant woman named Claire Lynch.

Lynch would claim that Styles was the father of the unborn baby, and then the feud was cancelled after it was awarded the Gooker Award from WrestleCrap. So, not only was this a completely stupid angle, but it had no payoff.

Some good came from this, though. Angle and Styles would beat Daniels and Kazarian at Slammiversary. Styles would also defeat Daniels in a Last Man Standing match at Destination X. Styles would end the feud by beating Daniels at Final Resolution. So, while the actual storyline was terrible, some great matches happened at least.

A Darker Style(s)

In February 2013, TNA would air interviews with Styles’ wife and a friend. But when they tried to interview Styles, he would force them to leave. This was a different Styles, unshaven, hair a mess, and wearing black. He would be dubbed The Lone Wolf. Because he refused to team up with Aces and Eights.

He would earn a shot at Bully Ray’s TNA World Championship by winning the 2013 Bound for Glory Series. At Bound for Glory, Styles would defeat Bully Ray and win his fifth World Championship. He would then refuse a new contract and walk out with the title. This caused Carter to vacate the title. Styles would return to put over Magnus and unify his TNA World Championship with Magnus’ version of the title. And this would end AJ Styles’ 12-year run with TNA, after being offered a contract that would have reduced his pay by 60%.

A Brief International Rewind

Before we move on, during his time in TNA, Styles was able to work in several international companies. He made his debut in AAA at Verano de Escanalo in 2006. He would beat Senshi in the IGF in 2007.

Styles would make four appearances in NJPW during 2008. Teaming with Christian Cage and Petey Williams to beat RISE (Milaino Collection AT, Minoru, and Prince Devitt) at Wrestle Kingdom II. Losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi in February. Teaming with Shinjiro Otani in a losing effort against Kurt Angle and Masahiro Chono during the G1. And the next day, teaming with Tanahashi in another loss to the team of Angle and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Also in 2008, Styles would debut in CMLL, taking part in the International Gran Prix. Styles would make further appearances in AAA. At 2011’s Guerra de Titanes, he would lose to El Mesias. But would return in 2013 to successfully defend his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against El Mesias.

His last internal appearance under TNA would be in 2013, to defend the TNA World Championship against Seiya Sanada in Wrestle-1.

A Return to ROH and the Independent Scene

ROH

Following his exit from TNA, Styles would return to ROH. He would beat Roderick Strong at a taping for Ring of Honor Wrestling. And would follow that up with victories over Jay Lethal at the 12 Anniversary Show and Chris Hero at Flyin High. He would win a Fatal Four-Way at All Star Extravaganze VII. Beating Adam Cole, Michael Elgin, and Roderick Strong to become the #1 Contender. But was unsuccessful in beating Jay Lethal at Final Battle.

He would make one last stop in ROH, as his last independent appearance would be at a TV taping in January of 2016. He would be interrupted by Jay Lethal, Roderick Strong, and The House of Truth. A big brawl would commence, and Styles’ former Bullet Club stablemates (Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, and The Young Bucks) would come out to help Styles. The group would have a group hug mirroring the Curtain Call.

A Tour of the Indys

We will wrap up today’s article by quickly going over some of Styles’ independent appearances. He would win the RPW British Heavyweight Championship in March of 2014. Defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Justin Gabriel at House of Glory High Intensity 4, participate in PWG BOLA, and team up with The Young Bucks in the 2015 Chikara King of Trios.

He would drop the RPW British Heavyweight Championship to Zack Sabre Jr., and in his last independent match, he would beat Corey Hollis at Georgia Premier Wrestling.

Preview

Oof, that was a lot. Styles should have been a no-brainer in TNA. He should have been their John Cena, not constantly being shuffled down the card as WWE cast-offs (no disrespect to Cage and Angle). Turned for no reason, playing second fiddle to legends way past their prime. Or put in stupid storylines that made no sense.

But it is what it is. And honestly, if he had stayed in TNA, we wouldn’t have gotten the last decade of awesomeness. With all that said, tune in next week where we cover his NJPW run and the start of his WWE career!