AJ Styles is currently in the process of negotiating a new deal with WWE, and no one is sure why the two parties are yet to come to terms.
There was a time in WWE where if you were over 40, you were viewed as basically being a dinosaur. During the 1990s when Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage jumped ship to WCW, WWE made fun of them and others for being old and past it. Nowadays, some of the company's top stars are 40. It even had three stars over the age of 50 competing in Crown Jewel's main event.
That isn't commonplace, but wrestlers over 40 competing is. Take AJ Styles, for example. Styles is one of WWE's tops stars right now and may become a three-time WWE Champion at TLC. Pretty impressive for someone who turned 41 this year. WWE clearly has no issue with his age whatsoever as according to PWInsider, the company is looking to tie Styles to a new five-year contract.
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Styles isn't the only one. With the competition out there right now, WWE appears to be trying to sign as many of its top stars to five-year contracts as it can. As far as we know, at the time of typing this, Kevin Owens is the only Superstar to have committed to the company for that length of time. However, Styles is the next target, and WWE has until April to convince him to sign on the dotted line.
Negotiations are currently underway, that's no secret, but PWInsider has speculated that Styles may be holding out for more money. In the three years he has been with WWE he has become one of the promotion's top stars. However, companies like Impact and New Japan would love nothing more than to have him back. Add All Elite Wrestling to the mix and the prospect of Styles' contract running out must have Vince McMahon panicking, even if he isn't showing it.
AJ Styles has effectively done it all in wrestling. The one promotion he hadn't conquered was WWE, and now he has done that too. He could quite happily spend the next five years and possibly longer at the top of the card and see out his career with WWE. However, if All Elite Wrestling does happen, that poses a fresh challenge for Styles. We don't think it is necessarily a certainty that he remains with WWE beyond his current contract.