Beyond stupid on TNA's part, not only are they basically saying 'we tampered with NJPW's contracts' they're opening a can of worms they can't close online here.


I hope Styles is the guy in the Rumble the longest, cos' watching TNA shit themselves over that will be the most entertainment they've provided this year.

After last time I don't think AJ would go back to TNA if they offere 10X what WWE was.

As for the talk of WWE burying him they can't do any worse than TNA did to him

Er Styles won the heavyweight title in his final year in the company, at Bound for Glory, bringing to an end a two-year Aces and Eights angle that saw him portrayed as a modern day Sting and saviour of the company.

On screen, TNA always did right by Styles. They knew what they had with him. Letting him go was utterly idiotic and almost certainly a Bischoff decision.

And how many times was he the best thing they had only to be pushed down the card for their lastest Ex WWE flavour of the week.

And it was his choice to leave they begged him to stay with a new contract but also rather than the raise he deserved cut his pay.

He did win the WHC but more often than not was screwed over.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Was Styles always in the world title picture? No. But was he always relevant, given meaningful feuds, talked up as a big star? Always. I'm glad he wasn't made the John Cena of TNA - sometimes it's good for top stars to be involved in a range of feuds and work within different divisions, much like Cena did for the US title.

Sting aside, AJ is the only non-WWE star to ever top the PWI 500, back in 2010, I believe. You don't get to do that just by being a good wrestler; you have to be relevant, and he always was.

Like I've said, it was his choice to leave but it came down to money, not anything else. They low balled him when they shouldn't have and I suspect the company regrets that now more than ever.

The good thing about AJ Styles now and this is why I respect him now, he's finally looking at the wrestling business for what it is, a business. He's not going to WWE to be this great wrestler headlining Wrestlemania and be on the lunchboxes and plastic cups, he's going there because he's older, he's not the man he was 5 years ago let alone 10, he knows that and he's going there cause his kids are getting older and it's time to set them up. Set them up for life so that when they leave school they have a nice house that's paid for and enough money in the bank that they will never have to work a day in their lifes. That's the good thing about this and I don't think AJ will try and attempt to work the way he used to, those days are behind him. This is a money decision. Same with Sting. The good old days are done. They will always be there. This is the same reason why I get annoyed at people hating on Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan and supposedly ruining their legacy. The truth is their legacy ended a long time ago. Now it's just fun. No one's legacy is ruined. It's money. It's about getting older and realising you don't have as many years in front of you as you do behind you. it's time to wind down everything and start thinking of making a life for your family for when you're not gonna be around anymore. That's why you should respect the legends and why you should resepect AJ. No different than any of you working a job, you do it to pay your bills and keep your family.

Who was the girlie who spoke to Bobby Lashley in Brazilian Portuguese?

It is beyond stupid but then the leadership who made the rest of the stupid decisions are headed by the same person so is it that much of a surprise?

I'm sure TNA can provide the contracts without issue.

Gabi Castrovinci, of WWE Tough Enough fame. Allegedly WWE didn't hire her because they found something in her past which made them pass on her (rumor has it she was/is an escort).

Obviously already replied but read up a little more on it. I didn't realise Anderson was still under contract to NJPW which makes the whole attention seeking, Royal Rumble piggybacking, attempt at publicity a whole new kind of dumb. Especially following the Hernandez situation TNA found themselves in (was it) last year?

Some moron decided it was a good idea to admit to signing a talent they shouldn't have gone near for another 2 months? Somebody actually sat and made that decision? Hypocritical to say the least when you remember TNA trying to sue WWE for tampering with Ric Flair's contract.

Isn't it something like you can only start talks if there is a month or less on a contract.

I think if Anderson had NJPW permission then it's fine, you just hope that they did.

The part I don't get, why even mention Anderson? The whole thing is about AJ who wasn't under contract to NJPW. They've made an issue they had no reason to make.

Er er er We meant Mr Anderson yeah that's it.

That happened? I was pretty sure that was all amicably resolved without any lawsuits - Flair wanted to go to the HoF ceremony while still under TNA contract. TNA let him and in return they got the WWE Intercontinental Champion (Christian) to appear on iMPACT and a mention on WWE.com.

No they filed the lawsuit in May 2012 and later withdrew it at sone point in 2013

Is Matt back on drugs.

The ranting ok get it and his insane Twitter.

But calling Reby beautiful she looks like a sasquatch after a accident

last nights "production values" again showed further improvement

crazy steve finally did the sort of promo he should have been in from the start

this weeks tna was promoted at the end of sundays episode as having the "feast or fired" match... possibly my least favourite gimmick in all of wrestling ever... and that includes a lot of wcw things...

the fired bit works better when
1) the shows are not recorded long ago (although they can hide the results by doing the reveal out of the crowd setting,,, but then you lose the "pop" of a crowd shouting their goodbyes...
2) the fired bit just stinks as it did with the firing of the skirt that accompanied the wrestler in the actual match. match v hair type matches work better, but then again suit traditional ppvs which tna doesnt do
3) tna needs to keep its options open on returning talent as the wwe are using nxt to take up all possible "draws" the competition might be able to hire (wwe viewing is down, yet their roster is growing.. either they think the swelling of their talent might help reverse fortune / or they dont know what wrestler look to go with / or they are trying to limit competition as they slip.... at some point the wwe will no doubt trim their roster and the tna might find some they can use better, but that would be months to go due to non compete clauses - and even longer to screen if tna is recording too far in advance)
4) the title match cases... this just says "we don't have any storyline hooks for all of our belts in our natural show to show story arc" and that sucks badly... the wwe money in the bank by being 1 not 3 "rewards" usable on any belt (i assume) makes it far less of a total show storyline killjoy.... tna needs more story arcs not this sort of device that just explains a match rather than use a feud story...

show is aired in america tonight. - no spoilers !!

On catching up, just watched the first one of the new year on the new home POP, knew it right from the beginning EC3 would regain, and lol at Bram being 10 years behind everybody else, and what the hell is a 'Meracle' as that woman was saying

Anyone else think by WWE taking Styles they've shat on TNA basically taking Mr TNA not saying TNA haven't got other talent but to me it means that TNA is slipping so far and have lost the best wrester in their history to the WWE?

Combination of things. Preventing TNA resigning AJ I'm sure they feel is a good move, however the level of his performances in New Japan the last couple of years have helped raised his profile and created interest in the industry.

something weird there..
aj was doing a deal with tna, then suddenly breaks off mid negotiations... then a few of nj's roster sign for wwe... wwe actually "reports it" on their website and at the same time jr is made new lead announcer for the njpw show on american tv...

it looks like wwe have done a bit of a deal with njpw & jr hasnt burnt any bridges therefore by appearing on a regular "competing" wrestling tv product

i.e was it all a work between wwe & njpw and yet another "removal of potential talent" from the more serious of the competition to wwe.

TNA absolutely dropped the ball when they let him leave the company the first time. I presume they can see that now - you don't let your only true homegrown star leave for anywhere else. You just don't. WWE letting Hogan go to wCw was a mistake as it gave them a legitimacy they didn't have up until that point - hence why they protected everyone else very, very strongly.

On the other hand, however, TNA didn't "lose" Styles to WWE - he had left the company over a year ago, rather than jumping ship. If it came down to a straight shoot between WWE's main roster and TNA's main roster, Styles was always going to go to WWE, as would 99% of wrestlers. TNA's main roster vs. NXT would have been a much more difficult decision and I suspect Styles would have gone back to TNA, who would have offered him more money than an NXT deal.

I'm not entirely sure Styles would agree with you here. Didn't he make it pretty clear after he left TNA that he'd been unhappy there toward the end both creatively and with the company set up in general?

with pop viewing figures continuing to climb this week... the "return" of styles that would have been next month would have been a big "storyline build" - as would some other plans they had with people rumoured to have been on their way... the wwe really do seem to be trying to suffocate the competition by taking "the best of the rest" even though they are looking very "over staffed" for their normal levels.