Jeff Jarrett comments on contract negotiations with AJ Styles during his time at TNA and his belief that AJ's eventual exit from TNA changed the game for the OG TNA fan.
AJ Styles and Jeff Jarrett are two core names associated with TNA wrestling's early days. Jarrett founded the brand, and Styles embodied everything that originally made TNA an alternative to WWE as one of the core performers in TNA's signature division, the X-Division.
In the most recent episode of his My World podcast, Jeff Jarrett discussed TNA Destination X 2005. During the discussion, contract negotiations with AJ Styles came up. Jarrett admitted that, even though AJ never became abrasive during the renewal talks, he always had leverage over Jarrett because he felt that AJ could go anywhere he wanted.
"At the end of the day, AJ Styles, every time he came to the table, he was never abrasive, but at the end of the day, you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, he had leverage because could he go somewhere else? Yep, all the time. He was very loyal to the brand, and I'm super grateful for that. But his skill set, every year, he got better. He got better on the mic. He got better on character development, his athletic ability; I'll say, [he] continued to fine-tune it, and all that kind of stuff. But he was, from day one, the anchor of the X Division," said Jarrett.
Of course, AJ Styles did end up leaving TNA in 2013. Jarrett commented on this, calling it the probable turning point for the original TNA fans.
"When he said, 'I'm out,' from a brand perspective, forward-facing, I would imagine that was the final nail in the coffin for the original OG TNA fan. The Hulk Hogan years were ball shot after ball shot after ball shot on that, but AJ leaving would be the final nail in the coffin for that brand."
Today, AJ is approaching nearly 10 years in WWE. Now, WWE and TNA have a working relationship and AJ has said that he would be open to appearing on TNA programming. Read his comments here.
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