AJ Styles is a guy who rarely has a bad word to say about anyone or anything. Yet even the man who was at one time the face of his former employer TNA Wrestling couldn’t help but speak the truth about his former employer in a recent interview.
[adinserter block=”1″]AJ Styles was one of the first guys signed to TNA Wrestling. Styles was pushed from day one and was truly the one homegrown talent that could company could brag about. Sure Styles wrestled before TNA, even a brief run in WCW, but it was TNA that gave Styles the platform. That is why it was such a surprise that Styles and TNA parted ways earlier this year, ending a 12-year relationship.
Styles did some media recently promoting Ring of Honor and was naturally asked by the Baltimore Sun about TNA Wrestling. While Styles didn’t go out of his way to bash the company, he also wasn’t willing to shy away from the obvious. Styles has no problem offering candid commentary on TNA’s current management.
“You know, I really don’t know. I know they’ve made a lot of cuts. That must mean they’re not doing so well. Sting gone, Hogan gone, myself gone, and I’m sure we’re going to see more cuts soon. From what I’ve heard and been told, it’s been horribly mismanaged as a company. I don’t know if they’re going out of business . But they’re definitely doing things that make people think they’re going out of business. And I hope they don’t. I hope TNA doesn’t go out of business because I have a lot of good friends that work there and deserve to be in the national spotlight. My hope is that they never go out of business.”
“Horribly mismanaged” is probably the worst thing you’ll ever hear Styles say about the company. How could he say anything different? He’s right and it still amazes me that this company is in business today. Who knows what will happen in the future as their deal with Viacom is up and Spike TV has yet to renew according to various reports. At some point something has to give here and at this stage of the game it has turned into a big joke.
Style was also asked about the door being open to return to the company. Styles doesn’t mince words here as while he doesn’t close the door completely, he believes that TNA may have moved on.
“I tried to leave the door open. I haven’t buried the company. Like I said, I have friends there who do well, so I’m not going to do that. But I don’t know if I’ll ever go back, and it’s definitely not going to be any time soon. And from what one of their higher ups said, it will be “Only if there’s space available for AJ Styles.” So I guess there might not be room for me, according to him.”
[adinserter block=”2″]How is that for loyalty? Styles goes on to talk about how he always expected to retire from the company and still seems surprised he is not with TNA. The good news is that he is busy on the independents with some guessing that he will pull in more money at the end of the year on the independents than he would have made if he stayed with TNA.
Sounds like a guy who knows a thing or two about managing a company.
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