AJ Styles = Gone From TNA

[maddog1981]

As I said earlier. If you can't keep AJ Styles on board, you've gone way too far off the rails. This to me is a big sign that the company is going to die soon.

[Deleted]

Eh. If they lose Hardy and Joe, I'd start to worry. The more telling thing is that they'd rather keep Sting and Angle around than try to keep the guys their fans want to see. That's 'we want our company dead 101' right there.

[Deleted]

AJ apparently had the best deal in TNA outside of Angle, Hogan and Sting. From what I've seen/heard, a lot of dudes in TNA are worried about their contracts being restructured.

[maddog1981]

I still think if there's one guy on the roster you pay no matter what, it's AJ Styles. No one would miss Angle for a second.

[MT]

Dec 11, 2013 7:47:45 GMT -4 maddog1981 said:

I still think if there's one guy on the roster you pay no matter what, it's AJ Styles. No one would miss Angle for a second.

TNA is in an awkward position. AJ Styles has been solid for a long time now, but he's clearly not "the guy" to take them to that next level. He had a decade to do that and it didn't happen (not all his fault; as it turns out they were paying the guy top money to reprise Charles Robinson's role of "Little Naitch" for a while). The core fanbase is always there and they seem stuck without a way to get beyond that. The gamble is that those TNA hardcores aren't just paying to see AJ Styles. I think it's a safe gamble. Loyalty doesn't put butts in the seats and the rest of the family that has put up with Dixie treating TNA like a social club seems to have taken over. It appears to me that they've decided they need to get a little ruthless if they hope for the company to survive. I'm sure he's not the last big player who will be gone soon. However, I'm also sure there are dozens of highly skilled guys on the indy scene ready to come in and try to establish themselves and do so for much less money. Either way TNA will likely continue to do about the same business no matter who is in the ring until the company starts doing the necessary things in marketing and promotion to right the ship.

Basically, they let a company operate in a very dysfunctional way for a very long time and the talent is going to pay the price. Some of these guys are going to be screwed when it comes time to renegotiate because they gave every good year they had to a company that pissed it away. WWE isn't likeley going to come calling for a single one of the guys who will be looking for work if it comes to that.

[Deleted]

It was also previously reported that Styles is already taking independent bookings through his agent Bill Behrens. He is reportedly asking for at least $3,000 per appearance. TNA allegedly sent lawyers to some promoters that A.J. was negotiating with to make sure that they don't infringe on anything that TNA currently owns the rights to.

$3,000 per appearance? Jesus.

[maddog1981]

That was Terry Funk's asking price back in the early 2000s.

That's a steep price though. Places that would book him like Anarchy Wrestling can't afford that kind of price.

[Deleted]

For $3,000 you could book a good chunk of the Final Battle card. He's not worth that.

[MT]

A promoter could bring a LOT of talent that would mean more to the fans for that price. AJ Styles is not relevant to the wrestling world outside of TNA anymore. It's as simple as that. When he went to Mexico recently to do that match with Mesias barely anyone knew who he was and Mesias had to explain it to the fans before the match. He got NO reaction from the crowd. He wasted all of his good years for TNA, the Bermuda Triangle of wrestling. Why spend 3,000 for him when a company can do as Switch-Truth wrote and book a handful of guys on the level of Steen, the Young Bucks, or Adam Cole for that price COMBINED who will draw just as well?

That seems to me like the "I'm retired but I'll come in if the money is too good to pass up" deal to me.

Also, why would TNA waste time hassling indy promoter with lawyers about not infringing on "what they own the rights to do"? What is that? I guess they mean promoters couldn't book him as "real TNA world champion" or some damn thing. Also, how would they KNOW who he was negotiating with in the first place? That whole part seems odd to me.

[Deleted]

There's a rumor going around that this whole thing with AJ is a work.

[wildfire]

Should be interesting going forward... it seems both TNA and ROH are on the ropes right now... could come kinda of buy out/take over/merger work? Maybe just if one folds, and the other gets the talent, we could get a viable 2nd option?

[maddog1981]

It's a really stupid work if it is.

The problem with a TNA/RoH merger is they don't help each other.

[maddog1981]

None of the pieces in RoH are going to do enough in TNA for the company to spend money. Those are the types of guys they've been looking to cut lately.

RoH would want nothing to do with a lot of the TNA main eventers and Sinclair wouldn't want to pay them. Even useful pieces like Bully Ray really don't fit with the guys they have currently. And RoH would probably only be interested in Styles, Joe, Sabin and maybe King.

The rosters just aren't super compatible at this point as far as what both needs. TNA has an older expensive roster. RoH has a younger and more raw roster that TNA doesn't seem to want to pay for.

[maddog1981]

And I think the RoH guys would be pissed about all these high priced useless guys coming in. And they'd be completely justified. And you don't want Kurt Angle rubbing off on anyone either.

[MT]

ROH is owned by a successful national broadcasting company and is very small but financially profitable with a roster full of guys the mainstream doesn't know. TNA bleeds money with RVD, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, and Sting never being able to mean anything to the company's bottom line. Clearly the roster is not the problem with TNA because they've had the pieces in place on that end for years now. Also, as pointed out, those rosters are like oil and water anyway.