AJ STYLES LEAVING TNA

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

Unless something changes over the next few days, AJ Styles will be leaving TNA for the first time since the company was founded in 2002 next week.

Styles' current contract extension expires on 12/16, PWInsider.com has confirmed. As of 12/17, he is a free agent and has already begun to accept independent bookings via his long-time agent Bill Behrens at [e-mail].

As PWInsider.com has reported for months, Styles and TNA have been far apart on money. The two sides did not really begin negotiating until Styles' last long-term deal was close to expiring and signed a two month extension in order to continue working together while they attempted to seal a new deal.

Unfortunately, the two sides remained far apart on money. We have heard that it was a situation where TNA just wasn't able to offer Styles what he had been earning and he, feeling correctly that he had been a big part of the heart and soul of the company, would not agree to take a lesser deal. The situation put both sides in between a rock and a hard place, leading to the breakdown between sides.

Styles officially finished up with the company last week at the Impact tapings in Orlando, Florida with appearances for episodes that will air in early 2014.

Styles is already moving forward with outside projects. He has an autobiography set to be released in the first quarter of 2014 and will be making an appearance next year as part of a talking tour in the UK. Initial dates for that tour had been announced but the tour will be pushed back as Diamond Dallas Page had already scheduled a similar tour for the same time period and the decision was made that it wasn't right to compete with something already scheduled.

www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=82078

[The Scuba Guy]

...Well what are the independent bookings?

[The Portable Stove]

So... is he sending the belt back, or did I miss the spoiler on that?

[BlackoutCreature]

Dec 8, 2013 21:42:41 GMT -5 The Portable Stove said:

So... is he sending the belt back, or did I miss the spoiler on that?

You missed the spoiler.

Spoiler

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

So...Final Battle appearance then?

[Deleted]

Hopefully he's saved a lot of what he's made because his days of earning big money in America are drawing to a close. He has zero negotiating leverage.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Dec 8, 2013 21:46:09 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

So...Final Battle appearance then?

He feuds with Bennet, and offers to show Maria why he's The Phenomenal One.

[Brood Lone Wolf Funker]

Honestly kind of messed up of TNA to lowball someone who has been a central figure for basically the existence of the company, yet they were willing to throw money at other people and look how that turned out for them. I could see AJ maybe going to Mexico or Japan for a few like Jarrett has done

[Crusty Ruffles]

Of all the guys to let walk.

Man...

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

So, anybody who said that TNA isn't struggling can just stop talking and eat crow. They just lost the guy that personified their company. At this point, the on-screen doesn't even matter. This has to be a huge morale killer for the locker room.

[Injustice45]

That's a damn shame. TNA's losing one of their biggest icons of their company. That's gonna be a huge blow for them.

[Sephiroth]

Its hard to imagine TNA without AJ. He is their longest lived, home grown star. My personal opinion is that he should have started being booked as THE face of the company right around when Hogan arrived-which of course dashed the chances of that ever happening. The worst part is I honestly don't see WWE making him any offer, even though he would be a natural opponent for Punk or Bryan due to their history.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

I don't care how much of a goober he'd be made to look in the feuds, Styles/Punk and Styles/Cena need to be pencilled in somewhere now.

[katiemorgan67212]

I feel so badly for AJ. TNA never treated him right. After 10 years of being their best wrestler he should be an established legend that was above everyone else. Instead in the time I watched TNA I saw him as Ric Flair's lackey, a frat boy who iced people, some guy in immortal, an endless feud with Chris Daniels, that horrible Claire Lynch storyline where he got punked out by Serge and never got revenge and then he couldn't get a title shot for a year and stopped talking or getting his bangs trimmed regularly. That's not how a legend should be booked.

It be nice if I was proven wrong but I don't see him as a good fit in WWE at all. He can't really cut a promo and I can't even imagine him interacting with any other WWE person in a real storyline.

I hope everything works out for him.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2013 21:56:48 GMT -5 Brood Lone Wolf Funker said:

Honestly kind of messed up of TNA to lowball someone who has been a central figure for basically the existence of the company, yet they were willing to throw money at other people and look how that turned out for them. I could see AJ maybe going to Mexico or Japan for a few like Jarrett has done

I don't think that they have the resources to pay him now. I'd expect that once Sting, Hardy, and Angle's deals come up they'll all be cut loose and show up in the E. AJ is just in a tough spot because the E doesn't want or need him.

[siredger]

Just doesn't feel right to me to not see AJ Styles & TNA associated together. I'm sure AJ will bounce back somehow but still, it frustrates me to no end.

[Deleted]

Dec 8, 2013 22:24:42 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

So, anybody who said that TNA isn't struggling can just stop talking and eat crow. They just lost the guy that personified their company. At this point, the on-screen doesn't even matter. This has to be a huge morale killer for the locker room.

I don't know, TNA hasn't really seen AJ Styles as the TNA flagship since getting on Spike and figuring they need a more charismatic main guy. I think AJ Styles is great and there was a time he definitely could have been put in a position to lead the charge as a real alternative to WWE but that opportunity has long since passed. I don't feel like TNA sees this as much of a blow as some of us might. I don't even know how much of a big deal it really is in the end, I don't know if Styles has that much cache with current TNA die-hards at this point.

TNA mismanagement has made it hard to remember what's even special about him anyways so the silver lining here is that hopefully AJ finds an avenue to remind us now that he's away from them. He absolutely deserves to be in WWE but I don't know if that'll happen.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Dec 8, 2013 23:36:19 GMT -5 @nichotine said:

Dec 8, 2013 22:24:42 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

So, anybody who said that TNA isn't struggling can just stop talking and eat crow. They just lost the guy that personified their company. At this point, the on-screen doesn't even matter. This has to be a huge morale killer for the locker room.

I don't know, TNA hasn't really seen AJ Styles as the TNA flagship since getting on Spike and figuring they need a more charismatic main guy. I think AJ Styles is great and there was a time he definitely could have been put in a position to lead the charge as a real alternative to WWE but that opportunity has long since passed. I don't feel like TNA sees this as much of a blow as some of us might. I don't even know how much of a big deal it really is in the end, I don't know if Styles has that much cache with current TNA die-hards at this point.

TNA mismanagement has made it hard to remember what's even special about him anyways so the silver lining here is that hopefully AJ finds an avenue to remind us now that he's away from them. He absolutely deserves to be in WWE but I don't know if that'll happen.

To me, this is a massive blow to TNA because AJ has been there from the very beginning. This has to shake the confidence that every TNA wrestler has in the company. They have to be thinking, "If they can't afford to keep him, f***, what's gonna happen to me when my contract comes up?"

[metylerca]

I kind of have a perverse feeling of wanting to see somebody defend this. You'd think that nobody could possibly defend TNA letting AJ Styles go, but they're out there.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Dec 8, 2013 23:42:40 GMT -5 metylerca said:

I kind of have a perverse feeling of wanting to see somebody defend this. You'd think that nobody could possibly defend TNA letting AJ Styles go, but they're out there.

There is always someone.