AJ Styles is proud of his Slammiversary return.
On July 20, 2025, former X-Division Champion AJ Styles stepped into a TNA ring for the first time in over a decade. Styles was a pioneer for the X-Division, with many citing his classics against Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe as the good old days of the X-Division.
But Styles left TNA in 2013. Unfortunately, both sides didn’t particularly leave on good terms. TNA officials asked if AJ Styles could take a 60% pay cut to stay. 2013 wasn’t a good year for the promotion as TNA was struggling hard, but Styles was there from the beginning so it was genuinely shocking that TNA made such a request to one of their big stars.
It was a long journey for both TNA and AJ Styles since 2013. To have one of the original TNA stars make an appearance at the company’s huge pay-per-view was special, and to Styles, it was a perfect night for him to come home (Transcript courtesy of Fightful).
“It was an opportunity for me to come and see the fans face to face, something I haven’t done in a really long time, and WWE said, ‘Yeah, sure. Go do that.’ Styles said on his Slammiversary documentary. You don’t see that every day. So the opportunity just to come and visit and share some time with ‘em is pretty amazing. I hope there’s something special as far as a match goes but I can’t promise that. I can’t promise you tomorrow what’s gonna happen to me. I can tell you this: I was very excited.
People were excited to see A.J. Styles, the same guy that they saw how many years ago? I don’t even know but it was over a decade now. To come back and be in that ring, it’s special, dude. It’s always gonna be special. It’s like the first girl you’ve ever loved, right? She’s always gonna be special to you. This was my first love. I would have been here forever, had things not went the way that it did.
But, things needed to go the way they should because I’m right where God wanted me tonight. So I’m very blessed, very thankful to be able to come here tonight and Leon (Slater) is a special kid. Enjoy him. He’s different, and he’s incredible. He’s way more talented than most of us could ever be, and I wish him nothing but the best. Just the start of an amazing career for him.”
It would be great if Styles can wrestle in TNA one more time. Let’s hope WWE makes that possible. If Joe Hendry can wrestle Randy Orton at WrestleMania then it wouldn’t be an impossibility for Styles to have one last match in TNA.