Ever since his surprise debut at the 2016 Royal Rumble, AJ Styles has been a devoted WWE guy, having established himself as one of the best performers in the company and becoming a decorated champion in the process. But before that, his home promotion in America was TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling), where he’d been wrestling since the company’s very first weekly pay-per-view.
The book on Styles’ WWE career has yet to be written, but let’s take a look at some things that “The Phenomenal One” wasn’t able to accomplish in TNA, as well as some things he is yet to achieve in WWE.
10 TNA: Never Beat Samoa Joe More Than Once
Samoa Joe didn’t just debut in TNA -- he took the whole place by storm, dominating the entire roster for 19 months until Kurt Angle put him down at Genesis. AJ Styles was one of Joe’s biggest rivals in the company; the two clashed countless times in their time together in the company.
While Styles was the bigger star, he was only able to beat Samoa Joe once, at Against All Odds in 2010. In 2018, they reignited their feud while in WWE, with Styles successfully retaining the WWE Championship against Joe every time.
9 WWE: Hasn’t Won a Tag Team Title
In TNA, AJ Styles was no stranger to the tag team division, having captured the Tag Titles six times with a variety of partners including Christopher Daniels, Tomko, and Kurt Angle.
But “The Phenomenal One” is yet to win tag belts in WWE, though he got close with Chris Jericho in a bout against The New Day in 2016. They lost the match, which caused Jericho to turn on Styles, leading to a big match at WrestleMania, which Styles lost.
8 TNA: Never Competed In A Cinematic Match
While TNA wasn’t the first to put together a “Cinematic Match” -- that was the Halftime Heat bout between Rock and Mankind -- the company did deliver the first modern one with “The Final Deletion” in 2016, which would be replicated by WWE in various forms.
Unfortunately, AJ Styles was gone from the company by then, and wouldn’t compete in a cinematic match until the well-received Boneyard Match with The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36. The bout was a fitting send-off to one of the greatest of all time.
7 WWE: Hasn’t Competed In Hell in a Cell
After 12 years in TNA, AJ Styles certainly has a number of gimmick matches under his belt, particularly in terms of cage matches like Six Sides of Steel and Lethal Lockdown, as well as regular steel cage bouts.
While in WWE, Styles has taken part in several Elimination Chamber matches and untelevised steel cage matches. But The Phenomenal One has not participated in what WWE touts as its most dangerous match of all; Hell in a Cell. Styles has fought in matches at the PPV, but hasn’t stepped into the cell itself.
6 TNA: Never Led a Heel Stable
In 2014, AJ Styles would become one of the most popular wrestlers in the world thanks to him assuming leadership of the Bullet Club in NJPW, which would carry on in WWE as “The Club”, with Styles backed by BC members Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
While Styles was a part of various factions during his time in TNA -- both heel and babyface -- he wouldn’t ever lead a heel faction. The closest he ever got, was leading Fortune, but that happened after the group had a face turn and became enemies of Immortal.
5 WWE: Hasn’t Won the Universal Championship
AJ Styles has been in WWE for five years, and has already won a number of championships; he’s a two-time WWE Champion, a three-time United States Champion, and an Intercontinental Champion.
In other words, he’s won most of WWE’s major singles championships, but one still eludes him; the Universal Championship. So far, he’s only had one shot at the title, unsuccessfully challenging Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank in 2019. Time will tell if Styles will ever get his hands on the belt.
4 TNA: Never Retired Anybody
If there’s one thing fans can say about TNA, it’s that the company has hired a lot of older talent from WWE, WCW, and ECW over the years. With such a high number of aging stars, it seems like someone would have had a retirement match in the promotion, and a younger, top performer like AJ Styles would be one of the best choices to work it.
But Styles never got the opportunity to put any wrestler’s career to bed in TNA. In WWE, however, he does have the distinction of wrestling The Undertaker in his final match, and while he lost, he can still say he retired The Phenom.
3 WWE: Hasn’t Competed In A “Loser Leaves Town” Match
The “Loser Leaves Town” match is a mainstay gimmick match in pro wrestling history, albeit these days it’s usually a “Loser Leaves The Company” match. In TNA, AJ Styles participated in a Lethal Lockdown match with such a stipulation to settle a feud between Eric Bischoff and his son Garrett, ousting the elder Bischoff from TNA in the process. WWE has put on “Loser Leaves WWE” matches in the past -- most recently Sonya Deville vs. Mandy Rose at SummerSlam 2020 -- but so far AJ Styles hasn’t had the pleasure of ousting anyone from the company.
2 TNA: Never Beat Ric Flair
In 2010, AJ Styles had an odd heel run in TNA where he became Ric Flair's protégé, dying his hair blond and wearing the sparkly robes that had been the signature entrance attire of “The Nature Boy.”
It was an odd fit, but you’d think the payoff would be a match between Styles vs. Flair. While Jay Lethal got one for doing impressions of Flair, Styles wouldn’t have the same luxury. The closest Styles would get is a three-way street fight with Matt Hardy, which Flair would win.
1 WWE: Hasn’t Become a Triple Crown or Grand Slam Champion
It’s actually an understatement to say AJ Styles was a highly decorated champion in TNA. To understand just how decorated he is, it’s important to know that Styles won so many titles that he’s both a Triple Crown and Grand Slam Champion multiple times over.
While AJ has won a bunch of WWE belts, he is yet to become Triple Crown or Grand Slam Champ in his current promotion. But once he wins the tag team belts, he’s in.