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A.J. Styles’s contract with TNA Wrestling is due to expire soon. If it does, it will end an 11-year relationship. Along with co-founder Jeff Jarrett, Styles has been with the company since their first pay-per-view in 2002. He has been the face of the company, and has won every men’s title that has been available.
Styles has been unhappy for the last few years. He has only stayed because TNA President Dixie Carter kept persuading him too. But now his faith in Dixie is at an all-time low. He has demanded that TNA give him higher pay; a gesture of gratitude for being the face of the company for so long. And the source of Styles’ unhappiness can be summed up in one person; Dixie’s business partner Hulk Hogan.
The feud between Styles and Hogan may have started in 2005. Styles was taking part in a video interview for a wrestling news website. They were playing word association, with the interviewer saying the names of big names in the industry. Styles was supposed to say the first thing that came into his head, but he took a different turn when Hogan’s name was brought up.
<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>A.J. Styles on Hulk Hogan</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>
Hulk Hogan? You know what? I’ve been reading the book ‘The Death of WCW’. Very good book. And boy, am I glad he isn’t with us. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that most of it is bull-crap. You know, nobody tells the truth about everything. BUT it does make a lot of sense.
[/quote]
‘The Death of WCW’ chronicles the bad creative and business decisions that led to World Championship Wrestling closing down. It interviewed wrestlers and other staff members that once worked for the company. A lot of blame was aimed at the creative team of Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera. But most of the blame was directed at Hulk Hogan.
In October 2009, TNA Wrestling held a press conference to announce that Hulk Hogan would be their business partner. Shortly after this, Dixie held a meeting with the entire roster. She asked them to show support for Hogan by improving their ring work. TNA World Heavyweight Champion Styles stood beside Dixie and asked them the same thing. The wrestlers showed their support. For 3 months, they put on consistently great matches at all TNA events. Even Scott Steiner, who had genuine distrust of Hogan and was limited by numerous injuries, was putting on show-stealing performances.
Unfortunately for Styles, the video interview went viral after the press conference. And Hogan definitely saw it. How do I know this? Because a radio show host played the video for Hogan during a live interview.
Hogan genuinely believed that TNA had never made a single star. In his mind, the only big names had won titles in WWE or WCW. This included former NWA World Heavyweight Champions A.J. Styles and Abyss. To fix this problem, Hogan decided to repackage both men.
Hogan took over control half-way through Styles’ reign as TNA World Heavyweight Champion. For the first 4 months, Styles was a hard-fighting, show stealing champion. But then Hogan turned him into a Ric Flair wannabe who couldn’t match up to the Nature Boy. For the next 4 months, most of Styles matches ended in disqualifications, and usually his own.
His worst match as champion came at the TNA Destination X pay-per-view. During the match, Styles used strikes to the groin, eye-pokes, chokes and weapon shots. He even had assistance from outside interference. And Ric Flair momentarily blinded Abyss with pepper spray. But the Referee wouldn’t stop the match until Abyss accidentally slammed Styles THROUGH the ring. After this, there was a comedy segment in which Hogan punched Desmond Wolfe and Ric Flair in the forehead until they stumbled blindly into the hole that Styles went through.
After only one month in the company, Rob Van Dam won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Styles. At LockDown, he beat James Storm in a cage match, getting bust open in the process. Later that night, Van Dam fought most of the Lethal LockDown match, got the win for his team, while getting busted open again. The next night, he beat Jeff Hardy to become the top contender. And then later that night, he squashed Styles to win the title. How did Van Dam go through all that and beat Styles so easily? Styles must have had a tougher weekend, right? Uhm, no. He had a short cage match at LockDown against the mid-carder D’Angelo Dinero, and won with an eye-poke with a pen. Then the next night, he lost the match against Van Dam.
During his time in TNA, Hogan continued to do interviews and appearances outside of TNA. Hogan would only complain about members of the roster, as well as Dixie’s decisions. Needless to say, being criticised by the person hired specifically to help the company hurt morale. It got to the point where Dixie held an emergency meeting with the roster. Hogan did not attend this meeting. She told the roster that they needed to adopt a better attitude and show more support to her and Hogan. This was the moment that inspired Styles to stand up and speak out.
Styles explained to Dixie that everyone had faith in her. But they were being hurt by Hogan’s constant public criticisms. And the roster agreed with him. By saying what everyone else was afraid to, Styles re-established himself as the leader of the locker-room. If you were not in Hogan’s inner circle, then Styles was the guy everyone went to for support.
Hogan was not happy with the influence that Styles had. Hogan felt that he himself should be the leader of the locker-room. And Styles agreed. So he started calling Hogan on any comments he made that showed poor leadership. The best example came towards the end of the first Bound For Glory Series. One of the primary aims of the Series was to establish Bobby Roode as a main eventer. When Roode was declared the winner of the tournament, Hogan would bury him during interviews. He claimed that Roode was not ready to hold a major championship because non-TNA fans don’t know who he is. If Roode was invited to major interviews, then he would be a marketable interview. Styles also went public, by pointing out that their leader was saying these things. Hogan would then criticise Styles, claiming that he tried to make Styles a main-eventer, but Styles “just didn’t get itâ€. Again, Styles pointed out that their leader was saying these things.
Styles was not just the face of TNA Wrestling, he was also the voice of the roster. He did have a special relationship with Dixie. As much as Hogan listened to Dixie, Styles also had her ear. This was crucial, because the roster needed someone close to Dixie to keep speaking up for them. The reason why Styles still gets pushed in the Hogan-era is because Dixie wants to see Styles’ faithfulness be rewarded. Maybe that is why Hogan tried to crush his status. Remember Claire Lynch?
The year between Bound For Glory 2011 and 2012 really hurt Styles image. And the next year was set to be even worse. Hogan came up with the idea of having Styles repeat a classic WCW story line. Sting left WCW for a year and returned with a new brooding image to feud with Hollywood Hogan. Styles was going to do the same. But there were considerable differences. Sting was still promoted and made infrequent appearances throughout the year. Sting had a distinctive opponent to return against. And Sting was being paid during his time out. Styles had no clear rival, and he was not being paid as he was not working any shows. Styles convinced Dixie to get his hiatus cut short.
Styles has signed an extension, so he will be around until Bound For Glory this year. But if his relationship with TNA does come to an end, his professional rivalry with Hogan will likely continue.
Styles has been unhappy for the last few years. He has only stayed because TNA President Dixie Carter kept persuading him too. But now his faith in Dixie is at an all-time low. He has demanded that TNA give him higher pay; a gesture of gratitude for being the face of the company for so long. And the source of Styles’ unhappiness can be summed up in one person; Dixie’s business partner Hulk Hogan.
The feud between Styles and Hogan may have started in 2005. Styles was taking part in a video interview for a wrestling news website. They were playing word association, with the interviewer saying the names of big names in the industry. Styles was supposed to say the first thing that came into his head, but he took a different turn when Hogan’s name was brought up.
<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>A.J. Styles on Hulk Hogan</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>
Hulk Hogan? You know what? I’ve been reading the book ‘The Death of WCW’. Very good book. And boy, am I glad he isn’t with us. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that most of it is bull-crap. You know, nobody tells the truth about everything. BUT it does make a lot of sense.
[/quote]
‘The Death of WCW’ chronicles the bad creative and business decisions that led to World Championship Wrestling closing down. It interviewed wrestlers and other staff members that once worked for the company. A lot of blame was aimed at the creative team of Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera. But most of the blame was directed at Hulk Hogan.
In October 2009, TNA Wrestling held a press conference to announce that Hulk Hogan would be their business partner. Shortly after this, Dixie held a meeting with the entire roster. She asked them to show support for Hogan by improving their ring work. TNA World Heavyweight Champion Styles stood beside Dixie and asked them the same thing. The wrestlers showed their support. For 3 months, they put on consistently great matches at all TNA events. Even Scott Steiner, who had genuine distrust of Hogan and was limited by numerous injuries, was putting on show-stealing performances.
Unfortunately for Styles, the video interview went viral after the press conference. And Hogan definitely saw it. How do I know this? Because a radio show host played the video for Hogan during a live interview.
Hogan genuinely believed that TNA had never made a single star. In his mind, the only big names had won titles in WWE or WCW. This included former NWA World Heavyweight Champions A.J. Styles and Abyss. To fix this problem, Hogan decided to repackage both men.
Hogan took over control half-way through Styles’ reign as TNA World Heavyweight Champion. For the first 4 months, Styles was a hard-fighting, show stealing champion. But then Hogan turned him into a Ric Flair wannabe who couldn’t match up to the Nature Boy. For the next 4 months, most of Styles matches ended in disqualifications, and usually his own.
His worst match as champion came at the TNA Destination X pay-per-view. During the match, Styles used strikes to the groin, eye-pokes, chokes and weapon shots. He even had assistance from outside interference. And Ric Flair momentarily blinded Abyss with pepper spray. But the Referee wouldn’t stop the match until Abyss accidentally slammed Styles THROUGH the ring. After this, there was a comedy segment in which Hogan punched Desmond Wolfe and Ric Flair in the forehead until they stumbled blindly into the hole that Styles went through.
After only one month in the company, Rob Van Dam won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Styles. At LockDown, he beat James Storm in a cage match, getting bust open in the process. Later that night, Van Dam fought most of the Lethal LockDown match, got the win for his team, while getting busted open again. The next night, he beat Jeff Hardy to become the top contender. And then later that night, he squashed Styles to win the title. How did Van Dam go through all that and beat Styles so easily? Styles must have had a tougher weekend, right? Uhm, no. He had a short cage match at LockDown against the mid-carder D’Angelo Dinero, and won with an eye-poke with a pen. Then the next night, he lost the match against Van Dam.
During his time in TNA, Hogan continued to do interviews and appearances outside of TNA. Hogan would only complain about members of the roster, as well as Dixie’s decisions. Needless to say, being criticised by the person hired specifically to help the company hurt morale. It got to the point where Dixie held an emergency meeting with the roster. Hogan did not attend this meeting. She told the roster that they needed to adopt a better attitude and show more support to her and Hogan. This was the moment that inspired Styles to stand up and speak out.
Styles explained to Dixie that everyone had faith in her. But they were being hurt by Hogan’s constant public criticisms. And the roster agreed with him. By saying what everyone else was afraid to, Styles re-established himself as the leader of the locker-room. If you were not in Hogan’s inner circle, then Styles was the guy everyone went to for support.
Hogan was not happy with the influence that Styles had. Hogan felt that he himself should be the leader of the locker-room. And Styles agreed. So he started calling Hogan on any comments he made that showed poor leadership. The best example came towards the end of the first Bound For Glory Series. One of the primary aims of the Series was to establish Bobby Roode as a main eventer. When Roode was declared the winner of the tournament, Hogan would bury him during interviews. He claimed that Roode was not ready to hold a major championship because non-TNA fans don’t know who he is. If Roode was invited to major interviews, then he would be a marketable interview. Styles also went public, by pointing out that their leader was saying these things. Hogan would then criticise Styles, claiming that he tried to make Styles a main-eventer, but Styles “just didn’t get itâ€. Again, Styles pointed out that their leader was saying these things.
Styles was not just the face of TNA Wrestling, he was also the voice of the roster. He did have a special relationship with Dixie. As much as Hogan listened to Dixie, Styles also had her ear. This was crucial, because the roster needed someone close to Dixie to keep speaking up for them. The reason why Styles still gets pushed in the Hogan-era is because Dixie wants to see Styles’ faithfulness be rewarded. Maybe that is why Hogan tried to crush his status. Remember Claire Lynch?
The year between Bound For Glory 2011 and 2012 really hurt Styles image. And the next year was set to be even worse. Hogan came up with the idea of having Styles repeat a classic WCW story line. Sting left WCW for a year and returned with a new brooding image to feud with Hollywood Hogan. Styles was going to do the same. But there were considerable differences. Sting was still promoted and made infrequent appearances throughout the year. Sting had a distinctive opponent to return against. And Sting was being paid during his time out. Styles had no clear rival, and he was not being paid as he was not working any shows. Styles convinced Dixie to get his hiatus cut short.
Styles has signed an extension, so he will be around until Bound For Glory this year. But if his relationship with TNA does come to an end, his professional rivalry with Hogan will likely continue.
