UPDATE: eWrestlingNews.com journalist Matt Boone recently wrote a great editorial piece looking at the TNA departure of AJ Styles. What led to Styles’ departure? What does his future hold? Will he go to WWE? What does his departure mean to TNA? Read it all by clicking here.
A.J. Styles appears to be departing from TNA for the first time since the company’s formation in 2002. Styles’ current contract extension expires on the 16th of the month and he will be a free agent after that; he has already begun taking independent bookings.
Styles and TNA reportedly couldn’t come to terms on money; with the company trying to cut costs, the two sides have had a wide gulf in the amount of money they wanted the deal to be for and despite the two-month extension signed in October, they were unable to work things out. TNA was unable to offer Styles what he had been making and Styles, who felt he was a big part of the company and its brand, wouldn’t agree to a lesser deal.
The departure of Styles has reportedly “sent a bad signal” to other TNA originals who have deals coming up; the message is that the company will lose their originals if they can’t make a deal fit their financial requirements. Styles is moving forward with outside projects such as his autobiography and his participation in a speaking tour of the UK next year.
More as we get it.
Source: PWInsider.com
