The career of AJ Styles has now seen him having Hall of Fame worthy runs with TNA, New Japan and WWE. Many fans forget about the gritty details about Styles’ time in TNA since he became the hottest thing in wrestling leading the Bullet Club and instantly got over in WWE to have his run still going strong. An argument can be made that Styles was in his prime during the TNA run and had those other memorable runs towards the end of his peak. TNA unfortunately didn’t always do right by AJ with the lackluster booking, but he still was the face of the company to fans. The following things about Styles in TNA often get overlooked.
10 Vince Russo Managing Him
The early years of TNA saw many wrestlers in odd roles that fans thankfully barely remember today. AJ Styles had a few storylines with Vince Russo when the controversial writer wanted to continue as a heel personality from his WCW days.
Russo was the manager of Styles for a short while, and the two even worked together in the Sports Entertainment Xtreme faction. The forgotten angle is considered a huge failure and one of the worst ideas from Russo in TNA.
9 First Elevation X Match Vs Rhino
TNA found success with the Ultimate X match creating fun moments for the athletic stars of the X-Division. However, the concept of the Elevation X match was to create a spin-off combining the Ultimate X structure with the old school Scaffold match.
AJ Styles was selected for the first Elevation X match against Rhino to play into their heated feud. Rhino’s fear of heights was a smaller part of the story before he persevered to hit the Gore and send Styles falling to the ring.
8 Second Legends Champion
The TV Championship for TNA had a few different names throughout the years, but it started out as the Legends Championship. Booker T introduced the title as TNA’s unique way of trying to make him important again after a disappointing start.
The feud between the Main Event Mafia and Frontline factions saw AJ Styles becoming the singles rival to Booker around this time. Styles defeating Booker made him the second wrestler to hold the Legends Championship before multiple title changes.
7 Almost Retiring Sting
Bound for Glory 2009 featured the compelling main event of AJ Styles retaining the TNA World Championship over Sting. TNA booked the match as Sting’s potential farewell since he was legitimately considering retirement afterwards.
Styles was selected for the huge match as the top overall star in TNA to benefit from the win and someone talented enough to make up for his Sting’s older age. TNA would talk Sting into coming back the following year when Hulk Hogan was running the show. It has been almost thirteen years since and Sting is still active in AEW today.
6 Tomko Stalking Him
The TNA Tag Team Championship reign of AJ Styles and Tyson Tomko saw them working under Christian Cage and Kurt Angle at different times. Styles was obviously the bigger star of the two and found himself in a world champion position years later.
TNA ran a storyline of a mystery man attacking Styles and trying to go after him on multiple occasions. The reveal of his former teammate Tomko disappointed many fans to see a weak reveal. Styles scored a victory over Tomko and never went back to that story.
5 Tag Title Reign With Kurt Angle
AJ Styles and Kurt Angle are the first two names most fans think of when naming the greatest TNA star of all time. TNA placed them together in an impressive makeshift tag team to face their mutual rivals - Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian.
The two teams had a couple of classic matches that led to Styles and Angle winning the TNA Tag Team Championship together. Both men were known for their singles careers, but this short-term tag team proved they had chemistry as partners.
4 Three-Time "Mr. TNA" Award Winner
The 2000s featured TNA having a year-end award ballot voted on by fans online. TNA created the “Mr. TNA” Award for the top male wrestler to get celebrated for his accomplishments and fan support each year.
AJ Styles won the Mr. TNA Award on three occasions in successive years from 2003 to 2005. Future award winners included Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode before TNA ended the awards. Styles was always the fans choice, and it showed with his three wins.
3 "I Quit" Match With Tommy Dreamer
The "I Quit" match is one of the most violent and captivating wrestling stipulations when done right. An unexpected match that few fans remember had that stipulation featured AJ Styles facing Tommy Dreamer with the loser having to give up.
No Surrender 2010 featured Styles scoring the victory over Dreamer in the bloody form of storytelling. The feud between Fortune and Extreme Violence 2.0 saw these two wrestlers locking up to continue the story.
2 Teaming With D'Lo Brown
TNA signing D’Lo Brown in the early years felt like a big deal at the time, but it is barely even remembered today. Brown was among the more respected former WWE stars to get released from the company and gain the interest of TNA at the time.
AJ Styles and D’Lo formed a short-term makeshift tag team that entertained the audience. The exciting in-ring workers delivered innovative moves that added to their tag matches. TNA didn’t have a long-term plan for the team, and they drifted apart before winning tag gold.
1 Falling For Karen Angle
The time in Kurt Angle’s heel faction for AJ Styles saw him taking a secondary role as a lackey to the top star. However, TNA tried to have Styles break away from Kurt by putting him in a silly romantic storyline with Kurt’s then-wife Karen Angle.
The poor treatment from the heel Kurt led to Karen taking note of AJ treating her better. Styles developing feelings for Karen caused issues between him and Kurt. The story didn’t last too long as AJ was better off on his own outside a love triangle storyline.